The Devil Within
by Kitsune Disciple
Summary: Fighting a foe is one thing, but what if you must face your alternate self in combat. Is it possible to defeat an enemy that knows everything about you simply because he IS you. Now they will all discover the evil within made manifest. 12th chapter up.
1. Chapter 1

This story got its inspiration from the Sonic Movie (it was pretty rubbish but the final fight wasn't bad), and the episode of Sonic X where Sonic transforms into Dark Super Sonic

**This story got its inspiration from many different sources including the Sonic Movie (it was pretty rubbish but the final fight wasn't bad), Dark Super Sonic, MajinStudios c 2008 and Aiko Chan Sot.**

**Deep within everyone's psyche there lies the opposite face of our true selves, by that I mean if your good and kind nature is always present on the outside then within is your dark and more evil alternate self. Sometimes we all feel that dark and cruel feeling reach the surface and when that occurs then all hell is unleashed. This is the main theme of my story. This story includes violence, swearing and killing. Enjoy and PLEASE REVIEW.**

**Title: The Devil Within **

**Chapter 1: Gathering the Samples**

**Diary entry – 23****rd**** June 2008:**** It's been too long since I had tested my genius to its full potential, however that was then and this is now. Now I can see my greatest triumph staring at me from within my mind, for too long now I have toyed away at quantum mechanics with the aim of creating the ultimate machine to destroy that bastard hedgehog and his friends. Now, however, I have seen why I failed. The simple fact of the matter is that machines are weak and fallible, they only possess the limited ability to anticipate certain actions of their opponent. But a bio-weapon can do better. This thought has now lead me to take a different path. Using the data I have collected from my grandfather's archives I now see a way of creating a new life form, or better yet life forms, by way of DNA duplication. My grandfather had succeeded in this endeavor unfortunately the fool failed to take steps to make sure that Project Shadow would remain totally obedient to its master, Shadow did at first meet my expectations and obey my orders without question but I failed to notice that his personality could become **_**infected**_** by feelings of sickening emotion. That is a mistake **_**I**_** shall not make. I plan to acquire DNA samples from all of my enemies and bring certain valuable personality traits to the surface. In short, I plan to use their own daemons against them to ensure total destruction.**

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(**Meanwhile on Angel Island**)

The sun shone hot and bright in the midday sky and the blue hedgehog was determined to make the most of it, he was seventeen now and life was proving to be dull. Sure he had his friends, especially his best mate and little brother Tails, to keep him occupied but he missed the old days when Eggman would try his luck with his newest mechanical creation. He kept himself going, simply because he felt that if he stopped moving for any great length of time he would go mad. Occasionally his hot-headed and boisterous friend Knuckles would challenge him to a fight, just to see if he could catch the blue blur off guard.

As Sonic lay on the grass, left leg bent at the knee and his right leg crossed on top of it, his ears began to pick up the sound of two pairs of feet sneaking up from behind him. "_Aint you guys ever gonna learn_" he thought to himself, "_Oh well, if that's the game you wanna play I guess I'll go along with it_". Sonic waited calmly until the last second, fully aware of what was going to happen. But he wasn't about to let them guess that.

"GOTCHA!" came the yell of two voices as they jumped through the air attempting to grab the supposedly unaware hedgehog. However once they picked themselves up from the ground a familiar figure stood over them, with a large grin on his face.

"I aint that slow you guys, I thought you two would've learned by now that its impossible to successfully sneak up on me".

The two assailants just lay in the dirt and cursing themselves under their breath for the plan going pear shaped. Tails stood up from the ground and approached his older brother with a huge smile beaming across his face before he burst out laughing.

"You really are one cocky son of a bitch, sonic" uttered the youngster's voice as he tried to halt the laughter, to which Sonic just shrugged his shoulders and then proceeded to ruffle the young Fox's hair.

"True, true, but hey it's what I do".

Knuckles, meanwhile, was far from impressed. He was not one to be outsmarted and left in the dirt, despite the fact that him being outsmarted was becoming as common as seeing the birds fly. The red echidna lifted himself from the ground and instantly marched off without saying a word to the two of them, Sonic was about to utter a few words that he knew would provoke a reaction but in the end he decided against it. As the two of them were about to go after their hot-headed friend Tails's ears picked up the sound of twin-turbo velocity engines approaching their position, it was unknown what their exact position was until the enemy came bearing down upon them.

Two metallic life forms landed not ten feet from Sonic and Tails's position, it was unknown at first if they posed any apparent threat as the machines stood motionless upon the ground. However, before anyone could even flinch, the sound of electric circuits whirring and metal gismos within clanking against each other proved that these machines were coming online. Both of the heroes took a few steps back as twin steel blades suddenly unsheathed from hidden cavities located on each of the robot's arms, it was then that the single eye-piece located at the centre of the head emitted an unnerving red light and a rusty metallic voice was emitted from a loudspeaker located at the base of the neck.

"Program status… online".

"Mission objective… acquire DNA samples from target".

Tails and Sonic just exchanged confused glances at one another as they tried to make sense of the 'orders' that the machines had been given, unfortunately their chains of thought were interrupted as the metallic monsters lifted off the ground and charged straight towards them at great speed.

Sonic pushed Tails to one side and jumped onto the back of one of the robots as it came within a suitable distance for his tactic to succeed. Using the robot's back as a platform he leapt into the air and tried to perform a spindash that would be strong enough to penetrate its armored hide and ultimately destroy it. Unfortunately though the machine had been programmed to react accordingly in order to successfully neutralize such threats, and it proved it. Before Sonic could launch his attack the machine's engines let out a sudden burst of speed causing it to propel straight up into the air where it began to dive bomb the hedgehog, Sonic tried to alter his position but since there was nothing in mid-air for him rebound off of he was helpless. The robot appeared behind Sonic and attempted to slash him with its right arm blade, Sonic spun in the air in a desperate attempt to avoid the attack which only just succeeded. The blade cut through Sonic's back just enough to draw blood but causing no serious damage, Sonic gritted his teeth in pain as he felt a sharp stinging sensation role up his back. Bracing himself for the mechanical beast to try its luck again, he had no idea that his blood was what the robot had been sent there for all along.

However to his utter surprise the robot simply sheathed its blades and took off into the air, as he looked down at the ground he could see the second monstrosity head towards Tails. Sonic realized that there was nothing he could do as he continued to tumble towards the ground, "_Hold on lil' buddy, I'll be there in a sec_", he thought to himself but he knew that he wouldn't. The simple fact of the matter was that his speed was only of use to him on the ground, not in mid-air. Luckily for Tails though help was at hand, as the beast approached the small fox now cowering in fear. The metal monster raised its left blade high into the air and was about to bring it down upon Tails when a red blur appeared out of nowhere and slammed into the vile creation, knocking it off balance the robot turned on its metallic heel and took a swipe at its assailant. Knuckles could not react in time and received a hard slash to his left shoulder causing him to be flung into the ground a fair distance away.

Tails felt a surge of anger build up inside of him, he had never felt rage like it before in his life and had his mind not gone totally blank except for the single thought of destroying the abomination that had injured his friend then it would doubtless have scared him. With his twin tails spinning violently, the little fox shot into the air and planted a swift right hook to the chin of the enemy prompting it to topple to the ground. Suddenly, as quickly as it had surfaced, the rage within him vanished causing his mind to remain unfocused and his body to feel limp and slightly painful. This was his weakest moment as the robot proceeded to force itself off the ground and attack Tails for a second time. Sonic, meanwhile, had managed to grab hold of a nearby tree branch on his way down allowing himself to halt the threat of a violent collision with the earth and to use it as a launching platform to propel himself forward to attack the second enemy.

The robot took a swipe at Tails but the kitsune proved too nimble to receive a direct hit and was able to dive out of the way but not before he felt a stinging feeling across his right leg, looking down at it he noticed a small cut just above the Achilles tendon which had started to emit a small trickle of blood. Clutching his leg with enough pressure to stop the blood flow he was so preoccupied that he failed to notice the machine lumbering towards him, when he suddenly became aware of its presence Tails was about to make a dash for cover but to his utter surprise the robot simply halted where it stood and began to sheath its weapons.

"Mission progress… complete".

"Initiating return to Eggman Headqua…".

The voice of the machine was cut off by the impact of, what seemed like, a small blue comet heavily impacting against its back thus causing it to be flung to the ground face first. Sonic wasted no more time on the robot and ran over to Tails to assess his injuries.

"How you coping buddy, you don't look too bad". Tails just smiled in reply but as he tried to stand the sharp pain in his leg bit back with a vengeance, causing him to fall to his knees. Sonic instantly grabbed the boy and was about to pick him up when Tails pushed him away.

"I'm fine Sonic trust me, go and see to Knuckles I think he may need more help than I do". Sonic didn't give a verbal reply, he just nodded and shot off towards Knuckles's position.

Tails cautiously limped his way over to the metallic monstrosity, which didn't look very menacing with its face in the dirt, with the intention of trying to gain access to its memory data banks located in the back of the head. As he removed a steel plate from the base of the head he reveled a maze of complex wires and circuitry, but brushing aside the multi-colored wires revealed a small computer that was apparently still functioning judging by the small flashing lights and the various high pitched noises it was making. Taking out a small device attached to his wristwatch Tails began to download all of the data he could retrieve from it, unfortunately after only half a minute the mechanical being whirred into life once more. Standing up from the dirt it proceeded to take to the air causing Tails to roll down its back, luckily though he too could also take to the air and so was able to save himself from any further injury. "_I just hope that I got all I could from that thing_" was his immediate thought.

Sonic lay by Knuckles's side as the red echidna started shaking of the effects of unconsciousness, it was then that as the numbness went away the sharp pain from his wound suddenly took hold causing Knuckles to grit his teeth and let out a slight cry of pain.

"Oh man… fuck this hurts".

"Take it easy, the slash is a clean cut so it'll heal in no time".

Knuckles just glared at Sonic through the pain, his next comment fully befitting his title of 'hothead'. "I'll fucking give you 'Take it easy' mate".

Sonic just rolled his eyes and helped his friend to stand on his own feet, Tails then suddenly appeared landing right next to his blue brother. "I got some data from the computer within that machine, I don't know what they were here for but from the looks of things they just wanted to injure us but not kill us". Tails then noticed the wound to Knuckles's shoulder…

"How you holding up buddy".

"I can honestly say… arh… I've been better", came the reply followed by a wink indicating that he was going to tough out the pain.

"Sonic, take knuckles to my workshop. There I can stitch up his and your wounds to prevent infection as well as examining this information to see what Eggman's up to". Sonic nodded in accordance and before anyone knew it he had Knuckles on his back and sped off into the distance leaving a faint trail of blue light behind him, Tails took off into the air and desperately tried to keep pace.

(**90 miles away at the exact same time**)

"Damn it, this fight aint going so well you guys".

"Oh reeeaaally, what ever gave you that fucking idea".

Again the two metal beasts attacked, they had successfully wounded all three of their enemies but again they did not press the attack in order to fully kill them. Instead both machines, battered and bruised due to the hefty assaults made against them, took to the air and made their escape. This left their victims dumbfounded, simply staring at each other with questions running through their minds, they wondered why they had not been finished off. Why had they been made to bleed but not die, the attack seemed so pointless.

"Well… dat was strange" came a slow and somewhat retarded comment from the overgrown albatross as he struggled to stand.

"Sure was buddy. Wave, what do you think".

The purple swallow looked at her left arm, the numbness began to take hold and she felt that she could barely move it. The slash had been swift but nevertheless it had cut deep releasing a small flow of blood to fall to the ground. Her compatriots had also suffered similar injuries to their arms and legs, but none were as serious as hers and she knew it. As she looked over towards her leader, who was now forcing himself off the ground with a look of serious agony etched across his face due to the wound to his right leg, the swallow felt great anger arise within her. Smacking her fist upon the ground and feeling the weight of humiliation upon her and her friends she gritted her teeth…

"They shall pay for this… this… this insult".

The leader known to his friends and foes alike as Jet limped towards her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder in an attempt to quell her anger as well as to reassure her there uttered a voice of both vengeance and defiance.

"The Babylon Rogues will not suffer this insult from that bastard Eggman, I swear it". Jet gritted his teeth and shook his fist at the sky.

"Come on Wave, we need to get that wound looked at" came Jet's concerned comment as he helped her off the ground.

"Well then… where… do you suggest we go, brainiac. We cant… go to the hospital because we'll get arrested", came her reply as she spoke through the pain.

"I know, what bout dat little flyin fox and his friends. Maybe dey could help us". The others turned and glared at their companion, that dumb bird had come up with some down right stupid ideas before but this one was the king of them all. However they all knew that they had nowhere else to turn, Jet seemed agitated that he would have to rely on Sonic for help and Wave herself seemed annoyed at the fact that she would have to rely on 'shorty' to help her. The three of them bottled their pride and then began the long and difficult trek towards Tails's workshop.

(**One hour later and 150 miles from the Babylon Rogues incident**)

A familiar black and red hedgehog was standing on the summit of a small hill overlooking a wide open valley, the wind ruffled through his quills and the sunshine beamed off the beautiful array of flora and fauna down below. The small number of trees rocked back and forth in the wind and the smell of nature clung to the ebony hedgehog, similar to how Amy would cling to Sonic, causing Shadow to feel somewhat at ease with life. Shadow had always been a lone wolf and he preferred it that way, he preferred to be alone with his thoughts in order to unravel puzzles that events had dealt him in his mind. Unfortunately though, his concentration was interrupted by the arrival of a familiar, but nevertheless annoying, presence. Quietly the figure tiptoed up behind the seemingly unaware target.

"I do wish you wouldn't play these damn games with me…Rouge".

"You seem to have eyes in the back of your head, perhaps I should watch my ass from now on".

"Your ass doesn't interest me in the slightest", came the cunning reply from the black hedgehog who continued to remain focused on the view ahead of him and not turning to face Rouge directly.

"Pity, I would find it so exciting to know someone like you was _always_ watching me". Rouge then let out a slight laugh in an attempt to get Shadow either annoyed or interested, unfortunately it did not achieve the desired result.

"What do you want Rouge, I don't have time for your idiotic small talk".

Rouge was unfazed by the sharp and blunt comment, "From where I'm standing, you seem to have all the time in the world. But if you must know, word has reached my unnaturally high perceptive ears that Eggman's planning something".

"Strange the doctor hasn't been heard from in quite some time". Shadow still continued to look out into the valley but even though his eyes focused on one thing, his mind was now completely focused on trying to unravel the mystery of what the doctor could be planning.

"But wait, there's more, it seems that not too long ago Sonic and his friends were attacked by Eggman's war machines. Now comes the strange part, even though the machines had Sonic and co on the receiving end of a good beating they refused to press the attack and kill them. It appears that they were sent just to inflict injuries, not death".

Shadow now turned to face Rouge, he seemed genuinely flummoxed by what she had told him for the doctor had always seemed adamant to kill Sonic and the others whenever the opportunity presented itself. It was simply not like Eggman to have his metallic minions flee when the battle swung their way. He walked down the hill grabbing Rouge by the arm along the way.

"Well you don't have to get this frisky, sweetie. Where are you planning to go anyway?".

"To Sonic and Tails's place, as much as I hate to go to them perhaps they will know what the hell is going on".

"Fine with me but it sure is a long way away and even with your speed we wont get there until dusk", her concern was met by a smile from Shadow as he produced a purple chaos emerald from beneath his quills.

"Now, hold onto me and I'll get us there in no time", Rouge gave a sly smile and gladly stuck close to the Black hedgehog's furry chest, much to his annoyance for he didn't like her to get _that_ close to him, "CHAOS CON!…" he was cut off by three large metal blades flying towards him at great speed. Shadow pushed the batgirl away from him and she landed on the ground, then there was silence, even the wind has ceased and all remained still. Shadow could not make sense of what had happened but as he motioned towards the emerald that lay in a tuft of grass one of Eggman's robots appeared behind him, before Shadow could even turn a powerful metal fist sent him flying into the earth creating a small crater as he impacted. Clutching his head in pain Shadow managed to open his eyes to see the beast stand before him, at first it remained motionless but then two steel blades materialized from both arms and it lunged at him. Shadow shot off the ground into the air and flung himself at his attacker, he waited until the last possible moment and then leapt over the robot and planted a roundhouse kick to the back of its head sending it into the dirt and making the crater that _he_ had made even bigger.

Rouge lifted herself off the ground and stood poised to aid Shadow in his fight but before she could even take a step three more flying blades came directly towards her, luckily her acrobatic skills as a jewel thief had always saved her from sudden surprise assaults and she dived out of the way with ease. Unfortunately, before she could land on her feet she received a powerful kick to the back whilst in mid-air that sent her flying out of control. Before she could even reposition herself to counteract her opponent she received a slash of a fine blade across her waist and she fell from the sky. Shadow attacked his own opponent with such a mighty punch that the metallic monstrosity fell to the ground with a thunderous crash, Shadow leapt on top of the robot's chest with the intent on blowing it to kingdom come. He placed his right hand, palm flat, onto the metal surface of the machine, his fur suddenly seemed to crackle with the powerful chaos energy running through him and a strong red glow began to emit from his hand…

"CHAOS BLA!..." just before he could annihilate the beast Shadow spotted Rouge falling through the air, turning back to face the machine and looking directly into the deadly red light being emitted from the eye-piece Shadow let out a low and angry growl before shooting off towards Rouge. He forced himself to go that extra distance, to make extra speed and luckily he managed to achieve it. Just as Rouge was no more that six to eight feet from impact, Shadow grabbed hold of her in his arms and slid along the ground. As he held her tightly he could plainly see that she was badly injured and in need of medical attention, he laid her down gently in the grass, she was still breathing and appeared to be fighting off the effects of both pain and nausea. Shadow quickly rushed back to find the lost emerald, upon discovering it he made a quick dive for it but was knocked back into the dirt by one of the Eggman robots, luckily for him he had braced himself for the attack mere seconds before it came at him and so he was able to rise up off the ground with no real injury. Unluckily for him however he did not anticipate the arrival of a second war machine appear behind him, the metallic beast took a strong swipe at him with its left blade and Shadow just managed to back away from the attack in time. Unfortunately though, as he jumped back, the robot brought its right hand blade to bear and was able to deliver a successful slash to his torso, spilling blood in the process.

The machines now seemed to be in a position whereby they could have successfully finished him off, but just as their counterparts had done with the other enemies of their master, they stood motionless. Shadow did not let the opportunity slip from his grasp, using his remaining strength he bounded towards the emerald that lay in the grass and proceeded to race towards Rouge. As he got within range he grabbed her in his left arm whilst holding his right, with emerald in hand, above him.

"Chaos… control", and in the blink of an eye the two of them vanished from sight.

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**Not bad for the first chapter I hope. I hope this has wetted your appetites and if it has then read on and enjoy.**


	2. The Hostage

Chapter 2: The Hostage

**Chapter 2: The Hostage**

Amy Rose had thus far remained oblivious to the events that were occurring around her, she had remained unaware of the attacks against her friends but more importantly she remained ignorant of what part she would play in the coming saga. The pink hedgehog, at the time, was running through the wild lands of Mobius, she loved being free to roam the landscape and to be amongst the beauty of the grassy plains or the dense woodlands. Now whether this was a result of hanging around her hero and thus being seduced by his desire to run free in the outdoors no-one knew, but what was plain to see was that she enjoyed being the way she was.

The female hedgehog had donned her usual pink dress and boots and had felt that, since the sun shone brightly and that the threat of being caught alone and exposed in the wild was significantly reduced since Eggman had not been seen or heard from in a long time, it was a perfect opportunity to go for a run. Sadly though her day of bliss was to be interrupted by an attack for which she was not expecting. As Amy continued her run through the flower beds of a luscious green valley, three beings materialized directly in front of her path. They were strange creatures, they seemed to be purely organic as there seemed no indication of metal parts or wires protruding from their bodies. They looked human in appearance and for all intensive purposes they were, apart from the fact that they had no eyes, mouths or noses, their heads were completely bald and they had no features that would indicate what sex they were.

"Uh… hello", asked Amy in a somewhat confused tone. Amy was not used to creatures suddenly appearing out of nowhere, apart from Sonic that is, and for some reason she felt sure that these things posed no threat to her. That would prove a big mistake.

"Can you talk?", but then she suddenly noticed that these creatures had no mouths, "_Oh stupid me, of course they can't talk if they don't have mouths_. _But perhaps they can hear me_".

"Are you lost, do you need help?". The creatures did not move nor display any signs that they understood what she was saying to them, they just moved their heads to look down at her.

"Okay… you guys are starting to freak me out now", she was starting to display signs of fear.

The three creatures suddenly began to move towards her position, first they just slowly walked but as Amy began to back away from them they began to move faster until they broke into a run. Amy now knew that these creatures meant her harm and so she outstretched her right arm to which her Piko Piko hammer suddenly materialized within her hand. She held her weapon above her head and waited until the right moment to strike. The monsters now dashed towards her at break neck speed, but Amy was ready for them. Or so she thought. When the first humanoid came within range she brought her hammer right down upon it, expecting it to go flying into the valley's rock wall Amy was shocked to discover that the being had taken the full force of her swipe with just its hand blocking the hit. Amy then spun round on her heel in an attempt to catch the creature off guard with a surprise counter attack, unfortunately it had anticipated her moves. With stunningly fast reflexes the beast dodged out of the way and landed a punch to the back of her head, sending Amy face first into the dirt.

Now she was really pissed, Amy's eyes now lit up with a raging fire and she was so possessed with anger that she just took mindless swipes at her foes. Luckily she managed to clip one of them on the arm causing the bone to break with a chilling crack. Now she felt confident that at least the creatures could be hurt but strangely she didn't want to kill them, as well as anger Amy felt apprehension about hurting the creatures. Sure she wanted to hurt them enough so that they would flee, but she didn't want to go too far so that they would end up dead by her hand. Amy was about to turn to attack another foe when the injured humanoid suddenly began to heal its wound. The creature's left arm, which hung broken and limp at its side, began to bend back into shape and making some quite sickening noises whilst doing so. Amy at first felt sick at the sight in front of her but then a wave of fear swept over her, how the hell was she going to put these creatures down if they had the ability to heal themselves that quickly in battle.

Amy stood transfixed on the spot and simply gazed at the humanoid as it pulled its arm back into shape and then proceeded to charge straight at her, so focused was she on what she had just bore witness to that she failed to block the attack from the charging foe. Amy was sent flying into the air, dropping her hammer in the process, and was caught by a second humanoid that proceeded to hold her in a tight embrace so as to prevent her from struggling free. The pink hedgehog continued to scream all manner of profanities at her captors, the creature held her so tightly that she was unable to call forth another hammer and after a mere few minutes of screaming the other two monsters surrounded her. Then all went black for Amy Rose.

(**Tails's workshop**)

Sonic had carried, a now unconscious, Knuckles all the way to his little brother's place of work, it actually came as some physical relief to the cobalt hero when at last he was able to lay the heavy bulk of his friend onto Tails's makeshift operating table. Tails had always used his workshop primarily for mechanical purposes but there had been times when an extra area was needed for medical emergencies, mainly for Sonic who was always walking away from a fight worse off than when he walked into one. It was nothing special but it did suit its necessary purpose well, the small room to the back of the plane hanger had a makeshift operating bed with surgical lights and machines all around it along with the many glass cabinets filled to bursting with many different kinds of needles, bottles, bandages and liquids. Sonic had arrived far quicker than his brother and begun searching for any kind of medicine that would awaken Knuckles, unfortunately for him all the labels on the bottles were all written in Latin and only Tails could read it. "_For Christ's sake, I know his knowledge has its great uses, but when that knowledge hinders me then it sure is a damn pain_", he thought to himself as he became increasingly frustrated.

He needn't have waited long for within minutes Tails flew straight through the hanger and into his makeshift surgery.

"Thanks Sonic, how is he?".

"Knocked out".

"How do you feel, is that wound seriously painful?".

"Nah, it just stings a bit but its nothing serious", came Sonic's reply as he gritted his teeth thus indicating signs of pain. The wound to Sonic's back had begun to bleed again and despite his objections Tails was having none of it and ordered that Sonic sit down and wait for him to patch Knuckles up first before dealing with him.

"How's that leg of yours, Tails?", asked Sonic as he attempted to take his mind off the pain.

Tails had completely forgotten about his own injury however Sonic's concern had brought the feeling of pain back to him, almost causing him to collapse to his knees. "Its…not that bad… just stings like hell, anyhow I must tend to Knuckles".

Tails limped over to one of his many cabinets and took out a blue colored bottle along with a needle and thread, he then motioned towards Knuckles who was still unconscious on the operating bed. The Kitsune switched on the surgical light that hung over the bed in order to get a better look at the situation, first he administered some of the liquid from the blue bottle onto the gaping wound and then began to sew. The liquid was a mixture of different substances and served to not only prevent bacterial infection but to act as a strong pain killer, luckily the slash to Knuckles's shoulder had been a clean cut and so it didn't take too long for him to close it up. Just as he was finishing, the sound of a groggy grunt could be heard from the awaking echidna.

"Oh my god… what happened… wow this is sure a lovely place you've got here little fox".

Sonic looked dumfounded at Tails, who wasn't the least bit concerned about the echidna's weird behavior. "What the hell is wrong with him, Tails?".

"Nothings wrong Sonic, its just a side affect to the strong pain killer I gave him. You should enjoy this show whilst you can because when the drug wares off he's gonna feel some serious pain, and you know what he's like when that happens".

Sonic took his brother's advice onboard, he knew that sooner or later that knucklehead would snap right out of his daydream and then all hell would break loose.

"Alright Sonic, now that Knuckles is patched up it your turn".

Sonic lifted himself out of the chair and marched over to the surgery bed, lying down on his back Tails began the same procedure as he had done with Knuckles. After about five minutes of surgery to his back, Sonic leapt off the bed and started running around the hanger with no idea as to what he was doing. Tails let out a small laugh as he watched his big brother go absolutely bonkers, Knuckles meanwhile, had begun to shake off the effects of the pain killing drug. For a moment his mind and vision became clear and he was about to utter something to Tails when he suddenly gripped his shoulder in agony and fell to the ground. The little fox ran over to him and helped him off the floor and into a nearby chair.

"I'm sorry Knuckles, I've patched up your wound but you will still feel some mild discomfort for a little while".

Knuckles just glared at him as he continued to put pressure on his shoulder in order to try and stop the pain, "I'll give you mild discomfort you little…".

Knuckles was interrupted by a sudden flash of red light coming from the centre of the hanger, the light was so powerful and so bright that both him and Tails were forced to shield their eyes in order to prevent themselves from going blind. As quickly as it had appeared the light vanished and all that remained were two unconscious bodies lying in each others embrace and curled up on the floor of the hanger. Both Tails and Knuckles quickly rushed over to their new guests and were shocked to discover the familiar forms of Shadow and Rouge in each others arms, but their shock soon turned to horror when they noticed the blood spilling from the grievous wounds on both of them.

"Knuckles, you take Rouge over to the bed, her wound looks far more serious than Shadow's".

"What do we do with him then?", came Knuckles's reply. The red echidna at first was quite comfortable to let the black hedgehog lie bleeding on the ground, but he soon felt that he had to put his personal feelings towards Shadow to the back of his mind and help him regardless.

"I'll see to him after I've taken care of Rouge, he's a survivor anyway, he's gone through worse before. Nevertheless I should make him a little more comfortable", remarked Tails. As Knuckles picked up Rouge and proceeded to carry her over to the bed, Tails grabbed the extra surgery pillow and gently rested Shadow's head upon it before returning to take care of Rouge's dire situation.

As Tails began his surgical work on Rouge he noticed, out of the corner of his eye, that Knuckles refused to let go of Rouge's hand. He simply held her soft hand in his powerful glove and all the while he refused to divert his gaze from her closed eyes, "_Come on Rouge, wake up, this is not then end for you for there are still many jewels out there for you to steal, babe_", as soon as that word entered his mind his eyes went wide with shock. Had Knuckles the gruff hothead suddenly felt some form of emotion for this batgirl that had always driven him round the bend.

"Your concerned for her, aren't you?", remarked Tails in a jokingly sort of way.

"No, definitely not, no way, she's a thief", quickly replied Knuckles in a desperate attempt to rebuild the hardened brick wall, that kept out emotions, around his heart. But no matter how hard he tried, he could feel it collapse within him.

"If that's true then why are you still holding her hand and… is that a tear I see?".

Knuckles refused to let go of the batgirls hand and quickly wiped his eye with his other glove, "No…I… I don't know what you're on about".

Tails just shook his head, let out a quiet sigh and carried on sewing up Rouge's wound. Within about five to ten minutes he had sewn up the bleeding wound on her waist and Rouge began to slowly open her eyes, much to Knuckles's relief. Tails was bracing himself to see how she would react to the drug, wondering if she would go mental like Sonic, who was still running around the hanger in a daze, and start flying around the place. Rouge looked up to see Knuckles staring right back at her, then she noticed that he was still holding her hand to which she quickly pulled away.

"Well I didn't think that you would stoop so low as to take advantage of a girl whilst she was asleep".

It suddenly became clear to Tails, who was watching with shock at the scene unfolding infront of him, that Rouge did not appear to be affected by the side affects of the surgical drugs. She just became her old hard nosed and ungrateful self, which really pissed off Knuckles.

"Why you ungrateful little…", he then paused and thought for a second before turning away from her and walking towards the door, "…I was worried about you, that's all".

There, he had said it, Knuckles the echidna had actually admitted some form of emotion towards this girl but it had seemed that it had done nothing but come back to bite him. Or so he thought. Rouge, who at first just huffed like and arrogant school girl that had been proven wrong about something, suddenly felt ashamed at what she had said to him, she quickly jumped off the bed and ran over to the door where Knuckles was standing. Taking his right hand in hers she looked him in the eye and kissed him on the cheek, at that moment all the anger and frustration Knuckles felt towards her melted away and knocked down the wall around his heart with it.

"Thanks Knucky" she retorted and gave him a quick wink before walking past him. However Knuckles was not prepared to let the moment slip away from him, as she walked past him he grabbed her hands, swung her around to face him, put his gloved hands either side of her face and gave her a long passioned kiss. At first her eyes went wide with amazement at what was happening but she then decided to just relax and enjoy the moment, the two then continued their embrace not noticing that Sonic had come to his senses and Shadow was still lying unconscious on the floor.

"Get a damn room you two", shouted Tails.

"Knuckles my man, glad to see your back on your feet and keeping yourself _occupied_", shouted Sonic from a distance who then burst into laughter. Knuckles broke off his kiss with Rouge, turned to face Sonic and made an insulting gesture towards him.

Sonic was about to reply when he suddenly looked down and noticed the bleeding and unconscious form of Shadow lying on the ground. At first sonic just glared in astonishment at what he was seeing, his rival lying wounded and possibly near death at his very feet. Now with the rivalry between the two hedgehogs that went back many years, no-one would have blamed Sonic for finishing his rival off now that he was at his mercy. However this was Sonic and he was always one to show mercy and forgiveness to others no matter what hostility they might hold towards him, Shadow was not going to be the exception.

"Tails, I think you need to get over here and give me a hand with this one".

Tails quickly ran past Knuckles and Rouge and helped Sonic carry Knuckles through to the makeshift surgery. Laying the ebony hedgehog gently on his back Tails looked saddened at the extent of damage had been inflicted on him, it may have only been one slash but it had cut very deep indeed and Tails felt pessimistic about Shadow's chances of survival. As Tails continued working, the other three quietly walked into the room and stared with concerned looks at Shadow. Rouge slowly motioned towards the operating bed and spoke to Tails even though her gaze did not deviate from Shadow.

"Will he be okay?".

Tails found her question annoying, simply because it distracted him from his work. However he answered it anyway but did not look directly at her whilst doing so.

"It's difficult to say at this moment in time, Rouge. He's sustained a deep wound and lost a fair amount of blood, chances are slim but Shadow had suffered worse before and survived. But he will be left with a scar that will remain for the rest of his life".

Rouge just put her hand on the Kitsune's shoulder, as if her gesture was to somehow boost his confidence about Shadow's survival, and then stepped back away from the bed. Knuckles took hold of her hand and she laid her head upon his shoulder, as Sonic noticed a tear slide down her cheek he slowly walked over to her hand put a hand upon her shoulder making her turn to look at him.

"Don't fret Rouge, Shadow's a survivor, he's been through worse before", came Sonic's words of comfort. Rouge may not have had the same level of friendship with Sonic that Knuckles and Tails had with him, but nevertheless she did respect him and hold a significant amount of trust in him. This is what must have allowed her to feel confident about Shadow's chances of survival as she felt the words of the cobalt hedgehog having an impact on her.

"And besides…" retorted Sonic who turned to face Shadow, but was still speaking to Rouge, "…he's got to wake up so I can kick his ass again". Both Knuckles and Rouge let out a small laugh at his comment, they all felt some degree of optimism but only time would show the outcome.

(**30 minutes later**)

Tails had been working furiously on Shadow's injury, it was getting late outside for the sun was slowly descending beyond the horizon and covering the entire building in growing darkness. Luckily the surgery light above the bed illuminated the room in white light. Knuckles, Rouge and Sonic had not budged an inch in all that time, they had simply been so concerned about Shadow's condition that they refused to leave his side. This was somewhat annoying to Tails who found their presence off-putting. Tails decided not to use the same drug from the blue bottle that he had with the others for fear that it might do more harm than good to Shadow's delicate condition, even though he was telling himself in the back of his mind that the black hedgehog would've been able to handle it. After he administered some other drug from the cabinet he had Sonic and Knuckles carry him through a side door in the surgery that led to a small room containing a single bed.

Knuckles had never known about this room before but Sonic on the other hand had seen it many a time. On more than one occasion he would find himself to be fighting Eggman's machines one minute, then black out and wake up in that same bed the next. Apart from himself and Tails, Shadow would be the only other person to have need of it. Once the two of them gently laid Shadow down onto the bed Tails rushed in with a syringe in his left hand, Sonic did not need to ask what it was for because he already knew. Knuckles on the other hand was quite curious.

"What's that for, Tails?", he enquired.

Tails knew that Knuckles would not understand the complexities of what it really was, so he just explained it to him as simply as he could, "It's a kind of stimuli, designed to awaken him from unconsciousness. But it may take a while, usually when I give this to Sonic he's up and about with five minutes but this is Shadow we're talking about here".

After Tails had administered the injection all three of them walked back into the surgery where Rouge was leaning against the surgery doorway and gazing out at the sunset. Knuckles proceeded to walk over to her but before he could say anything he stared out towards the entrance of the hanger and saw three figures limp their way inside, Sonic then appeared behind him at which point he also noticed the dark figures. The dying sunlight shone behind them making the visitors appear almost completely black and unrecognizable, however Sonic, Tails and Knuckles could instantly tell who they were. Rouge, who on the other hand had never met the Rogues before, seemed quite curious about the new guests.

"Who are these jokers, Sonic? Friends of yours", she said whilst not deviating her gaze from the strangers.

Sonic just shot a glance towards her and then turned to face the newcomers whilst giving his reply in a sarcastic manner, "Rouge, may I introduce our good friends, the Babylon Rogues".


	3. Unlocking the Truth

Chapter 3: Breaking Into Eggman's Fortress

**Sorry that I didn't upload this chapter with the previous two, I had to go over it and check out a few things first but now all is well and its up where it should be. Do enjoy and PLEASE REVIEW.**

**Chapter 3: Unlocking the Truth**

The Rogues moved steadily towards Sonic and the rest of the group and it quickly became clear to them all, especially Tails, that they too had been attacked and grievously wounded. Knuckles raised his fists and stood in a fighting position when the lumbering form of Storm advanced closer towards him, Sonic did not react in quite the same way to Jet's own approach but nevertheless he was suspicious. Tails did not show anything but concern for Wave when he noticed blood spilling from her arm onto the floor.

"What do you want bird brain, if you wanna fight then I'm game", said Knuckles in a fairly overconfident way.

"Sure thing ya little runt, put up yor dukes", came Storm's reply. The two of them were on the brink of beginning a slugging match when Sonic pushed them apart.

"You two, back down. No-one is gonna fight here, besides with your wounds neither of you would last long anyway".

"Yes Storm, I hate to admit it but the blue land runner is right. Now back down", barked Jet's response to the situation. The term 'Land Runner' had been meant as a derogatory term by Jet because whilst he admitted that Sonic was fast he was only fast on land, whilst Jet was the fastest thing alive in the air.

"Don't you start, Jet", said Sonic glaring at him.

"Or what, from the looks of things you are worse off than me. But if you wanna take things outside then lets go".

Wave stood next to Tails and Rouge in the Surgery doorway clutching her arm in pain, "_Boys and their testosterone levels, this is getting ridiculous_", she thought to herself. She then screamed a furious order at all four of them…

"WILL YOU LOT GIVE IT A FUCKING REST!".

Tails was stunned at how furious she was, he had never heard her use language like that before and he had never seen her so annoyed. Nevertheless he knew she had a point, and besides he himself was getting pretty pissed off at the way they were acting.

"Wave's right you guys. Sonic, Knuckles, go and get some rest before you tear the stitches and open those wounds", he then turned to face the male Rogue members, "And you two get into the surgery and let me take care of those injuries".

Wave looked down at Tails, she had usually thought of him as the annoying little runt of the Sonic team but now in that one moment she saw a completely different side to him. Where once she saw weakness she now saw strength, where once she saw indecision she now saw determination. In fact she would have gone as far to say that she was almost impressed at how he was suddenly taking charge and barking orders.

Sonic and Knuckles stared at little fox for a moment and when they saw the pissed off look etched across his face they realized that he did know what he was talking about, the two of them then walked out of the hanger into the sunset. Rouge, who had refused to say anything at that point, walked away towards the rest room where Shadow was resting and disappeared through the door. Jet and Storm were at first a little reluctant to take orders from a boy half their age, but the pain they now felt race through their bodies made them yield to his demands. All three of them reluctantly sat on top of the surgical bed and Tails set to work.

It was only a matter of minutes before Jet and Storm had been patched up and were off, the two of them jumped down from the bed and walked straight out of the door without even thanking Tails for his help. Whether it was their arrogant pride that made them feel a little embarrassed at the thought of admitting gratefulness to a small kid for helping them only they knew, Wave on the other hand did feel a small amount of gratefulness towards him but she still felt her own pride hold her back.

"Thanks shorty", she said in an almost mocking tone.

Tails was not in the mood for her insults, he was fed up with helping the others and not even getting so much as a thank you for his efforts, "You call me that again and you can patch up your own wounds without any more help from me", he them proceeded to put down the needle and thread and started to walk away but before he could even take a step forward he felt a hand grab his arm.

"I'm sorry fox-boy, but I do really need your help".

Tails was not one to hold a grudge for too long against anyone and besides he did feel that he had a duty to help anyone in need of it, even if they were complete bastards. He then picked up the needle and continued sewing up the wound to her arm.

"Fine I'll help you but if you ever call me shorty or fox-boy again then you're on your own, got it".

Wave just nodded in reply, to her Tails seemed to have grown in maturity a lot more since she first met him and she now felt deep within her mind that she had somehow underestimated what the Kitsune was capable of. But her pride still refused to let her admit that to him. After another ten minutes or so the surgery to her arm had been completed and although it felt numb to the touch, Wave could instantly feel the strength returning to her arm again. She pushed herself off the bed and ruffled Tails's hair, much to the boy's annoyance.

"Thanks Tails", she uttered as she walked out of the door and disappeared into the darkness. Tails had been working for hours healing all who had come to him and now he felt exhausted but nevertheless happy that at least one person had personally thanked him for his help. The sun had now completely set filling the entire building with darkness and leaving only the surgery light to emit some form of brightness, when all remained quiet Tails now had to tend to his own wounded leg. Doing surgical work on others is difficult enough but when you must perform it on yourself then things get a little more complicated. Tails began by covering the wound with a clear liquid that acted as a strong pain killer and then injected himself with another type of liquid designed to stop him from suffering the side effects of the drugs. It took longer than he had anticipated but when it was eventually completed Tails tidied everything away and headed off to get some sleep before he collapsed from exhaustion.

(**Next Morning**)

Rouge awoke to find herself lying partly on Shadow's bed, as she lifted her head up it became instantly obvious that she had been crying. A small wet patch had formed on the blankets near to where Shadow lay. The black hedgehog had not moved an inch, apart from his slow methodical breathing, in any way. Rouge stood over the hedgehog and looked down at his closed eyes, even in sleep he still gave off an aura of power and strength and this in its own way provided Rouge with a degree of comfort for she felt certain that a being with such undeniable power would not simply lie down and die. She gently placed her gloved hand on his forehead and at that very moment Shadow's red eyes opened with a fierce gaze causing Rouge to almost leap back in terror.

"God Shadow, you frightened me to death", came the shocked comment as the batgirl clutched her chest in relief.

Shadow lifted his head off the pillow and sat upright, but as he did he suddenly felt pain rush through his body making him wince, "Arh… what…what happened?".

"You teleported us safely to Tails's workshop, that little fox tended to your wounds so I think you owe him one".

This had a bad effect on Shadow, he now felt more damage had been done to him right at that very moment than any physical wound had ever caused and his pride had born the brunt.

"I didn't ask him or anyone else for help, I need no-one else to help me, I can handle myself", came the sharp reply as the Hedgehog glared at Rouge with his dark red eyes.

"Well you were the one who suggested coming here in the first place to discover if Sonic and the others knew anything about what Eggman might be planning, you just happened to get injured along the way", replied Rouge who was in no mood to accept this childish behavior from the hedgehog, she was perfectly willing to accept that she couldn't have survived without help even if Shadow wasn't.

Shadow was still in a fair amount of pain but he refused to remain in bed, pulling back the covers he put his hover shoes on the floor and tried to stand but as he did so he collapsed onto his knees in pain clutching his stomach. Rouge rushed over and tried to help him to stand but as she grabbed hold of his arm he forced her away almost causing her to fall to the floor.

"I…Told you… I don't need… any help", Shadow said as he gritted his teeth in pain.

Rouge stood up from the floor, brushed herself down and marched out of the room, "Fine then, you're on your own. I guess that's the way you'll always be", she retorted as she left and slammed the door behind her.

Shadow remained unfazed by her bout of hysterics but as he turned to face the bed he looked down and noticed the wet patch on the sheets caused by Rouge's tears. He at first couldn't believe it was real and wondered why anyone, especially Rouge, would get upset over him nearly dying, but as he removed one of his gloves and placed his naked hand on the wet area of the sheet he instantly knew that it was real. Now he felt deeply ashamed of himself, Rouge had been concerned for his well being and that was the thanks she received in return. Shadow clenched his fists in anger and marched out of the room, his pride was telling him to ignore her pathetic emotions and simply carry on as if nothing had occurred. But his heart on the other hand was ordering him to apologise immediately.

Shadow proceeded to limp out of the room, through the surgery and into the main hanger. As he opened the surgery door into the hanger he was met by a vicious spiked fist coming towards him, luckily he still had enough strength to dodge the attack but ended up on the floor. As he tried to get up a large and heavy boot stood on his chest and forced him back down again, as Shadow looked up he recognized the familiar form of a red echidna glaring at him with a most displeased look on his face.

"You'd better get off me Knuckles, I may be injured but I'll still give you the beating of your life if you don't let me up".

Knuckles just ignored the threat and put increased pressure on Shadow's gut, "The only thing you're going to do is to apologise to Rouge for what you did to her, or I'll be the one giving the beatings".

"That's what I came out here to do, now get off me".

Knuckles didn't fully trust Shadow and besides he had him right where he wanted him, as he lifted his boot up off Shadow's chest he quickly slammed it back down upon him. "I don't believe you but I'll give you this once chance to prove it and then I'll let you up", Knuckles grinned at Shadow who in reply was getting more and more agitated about being held down on the floor.

Knuckles didn't divert his gaze from Shadow but shouted over towards Rouge's direction, "Rouge, Shadow has something he wants to say".

Rouge reluctantly appeared beside Knuckles and looked down at the vulnerable form of the black and red hedgehog, "What do you want, asshole?", she grunted.

Shadow felt his pride shattering within him but nevertheless he answered, "To apologise for what I did earlier, I'm…" now this was the really difficult part for him, "…I'm sorry".

Rouge just smiled confidently, turned and walked away, "Apology accepted", she said as she went.

Knuckles felt good at the fact that Shadow had been forced to act against his natural demeanor and so removed his boot and allowed Shadow to stand up. The echidna then turned to walk away into the main hanger but as he took his first few steps he suddenly felt a powerful elbow collide with the back of his neck sending him straight to the floor in agony, Shadow stood over his enemy and as Knuckles attempted to stand he forced him back down with a shoe to the back of the head. There he remained for a few seconds as his hover shoe began to dig into the back of Knuckles's skull, however he was soon forced off by Sonic, Tails and Rouge grabbing and wrestling him to the floor.

"Leave him alone Shadow", barked Rouge.

"Knuckles are you okay?", came a concerned response from Sonic.

"Yea… I'm just… fucking peachy", replied Knuckles as he painfully lifted himself off the ground.

"LET ME GO, NO-ONE PUTS ME DOWN AND WALKS AWAY FROM IT!", shouted Shadow with great anger.

"First you calm down and then we'll let you up, got it", remarked Tails.

"Fine", came the gruff reply.

All three of them slowly let go of the black hedgehog and backed away from him as he slowly got up off the ground.

"Now then I don't want any more trouble from you two, besides we need to uncover the reason why we were all attacked in the first place" remarked Sonic. He then turned to face his little brother who had just finished helping Shadow to stand, "How much info have you got from that little watch gadget of yours, Tails?".

"There wasn't much in the first place but what I have uncovered so far makes for interesting reading, come on I'll show you".

Sonic, Knuckles and Rouge followed Tails, with Shadow slowly following behind, over to a small computer on a desk that was located behind the Tornado jet. The desk was littered with read-outs, files, graphs, electrical tools and other junk that nobody, apart from Tails, could see the importance of. Nevertheless it was Tails's equipment so they all assumed that it must have some significance.

"Hey where did the Babylon Rogues disappear off to?", asked Rouge.

"They said they'd be back shortly after they took care of some things, but that's they way they are, they keep their cards close to their chests. Their business is their own".

"Who the hell are the Babylon Rogues", enquired Shadow.

Sonic led Shadow away from Tails's work desk towards the entrance to the hanger in order to fully explain who they were, what they did and how they came to be caught up in this whole situation. Tails meanwhile was busy analyzing the last of the data he had acquired from Eggman's war machine, there wasn't much to go on but luckily what there was proved quite vital. He then printed it off and showed it to the others,

"According to this, it seems that Eggman is planning to create some sort of highly advanced bio-weapon".

"But I thought that Shadow was the ultimate bio-weapon", interrupted Rouge.

Tails seemed quite annoyed that he had been so rudely interrupted but carried on speaking regardless, "Well Rouge it appears that is no longer the case. I can't say why for certain, but it appears that Eggman plans to harvest our DNA in order to create something directly from our own bloodstream".

"Do you mean clones?", asked Rouge.

"Its certainly possible".

"What about a viral or chemical weapon?", Knuckles piped up.

"I highly doubt it, the data states that the specimens harvested from all targets will be used to 'Awaken the devil within'. That's all I could get from the robot before I had to disconnect".

"Awaken the devil within, what the hell does that mean lil bro", asked Sonic who, along with Shadow, had suddenly appeared behind Knuckles.

"No idea Sonic, but…", just at that moment he was again interrupted but this time by the arrival of the Babylon Rogues who had rushed into the hanger carrying a large black sphere.

"Sorry we're late guys but we come bearing a message from Eggman himself, and we thought that you might want to know".

Knuckles, Sonic Tails and Rouge all exchanged confused looks at one another whilst Shadow was pondering to himself as to what Eggman was playing at.

"Eggman just handed you lot this thing and then disappeared", asked Sonic who was still confused as to how this object came to be in their possession.

"He didn't give it to us personally, one of his mechanical servants landed in front of us as we were on our way back here after taking care of some _private business_ shall we say. We were about to take the machine down when it dropped this black ball at out feet and told us that if we want to uncover the truth behind what is going on, then we had to deliver it to you here. Apparently when we are all together in one location, it will activate and reveal all", replied Jet.

"And it sure wasn't half heavy", commented Wave.

The three Rogues then gently placed the large black sphere onto the ground in the centre of the hanger, it took a few minutes of patience but then suddenly the sphere lifted off the ground and began pulsating with yellow light. The light grew brighter and brighter and began to circle the sphere in an arch until it seemed to get sucked into the object itself, then all energy seemed to disappear entirely from it so that it just remained a blank object hovering in the air. The sphere remained that way until a sudden blast of white light forced all those near it to shield their eyes, when they dared to look upon the object they were shocked to see a large hologram protrude from the sphere. At first the hologram was distorted and unrecognizable but when it became clearer and more focused the two girls felt a sense of nervousness and the lads felt nothing but rage at the image they saw, their arch nemesis Eggman stood before them.

The doctor was showing his age, wrinkles covered his entire face and his once intimidating moustache now seemed colorless and drab almost becoming a joke compared to how it looked many years ago. The well known red jacket with the brass buttons was also showing its age, where once it gleamed in spotless glory now it seemed a dull and worn shadow of its former self. Finally the black boots that Eggman always wore caught the attention of everyone in the building, to be more precise it wasn't just his footwear that shocked everyone, it was both of his entire legs. Where once there had been stick thin fleshy limbs there were now two artificial metal ones.

"Change of footwear doc?", mocked Sonic to which all the others in the room let out a small laugh.

"Pathetic hedgehog, I've grown weary of your bullshit. Now listen closely, I'm giving you a challenge that I believe you'll find most hard to resist", came Eggman's reply. Age had somewhat affected his voice as well, it was no longer strong and threatening, not that it ever was much of a threat to Sonic to begin with, but instead it was dry and raspy.

"Sorry Eggy, but we're not interested. Good day", said Sonic as he turned to walk away from the hologram.

Eggman just let out a slight laugh and carried on with his message, "Oh but my dear Sonic you simply must accept. Amy will be most let down if you do not".

Sonic froze in his tracks at the mention of Amy's name, he turned on his heel and walked back to face the hologram.

"I thought that would get your attention", mocked the overweight doctor.

"Where's Amy?, what have you done with her?", came a frustrated response.

The doctor just smiled, "See for yourself", the image of Eggman then dissipated and was replaced by an image of Amy Rose tied to a metal girder in the midst of what appeared to be a large dark room, however nobody could be sure because the image was not totally clear. Amy hung from the girder with her arms outstretched to her sides and her head hanging limp as she appeared to be in a state of unconsciousness. The hanger remained in total silence apart from the odd gasp now and then before the image of Amy was replaced by that of Eggman.

"YOU BASTARD, WHERE IS SHE?", screamed Sonic.

"Such emotion over this little bitch, and here was I thinking that you didn't care for her".

"I care about the safety of all my friends when they are in danger".

"We shall see, Sonic. Now then if you want to get her back then you will all accept my challenge, understood?".

No-one said a word, they all just nodded in painful acceptance.

"Excellent, now then head to my fortress deep with the 'Devils Teeth'. Usually it should take no more than five days to get there as the crow fly's, but your first challenge will be to make it there in two".

The Sonic team looked at each other in shock, "There is simply no way we can make it all that way in just two days", barked Knuckles.

"You should count yourselves lucky that I'm taking your injuries into account because I was at first only going to give you twenty four hours to complete this first challenge".

"It's still not possible", argued Jet.

Eggman took no notice of their complaints, "As I have said you have two days to reach my fortress and if you fail, well I don't think I need to tell you just what will happen to this pink pest".

The hologram was about to fade away before Tails pushed passed Knuckles and ran up to face the hologram, "Tell us what you mean by 'Awaken the devil within'?".

Eggman suddenly displayed signs of surprise, how could they possibly know anything about his plan, did they know anything else, all these questions suddenly began to race through his mind. However, he decided to remain calm and focused for he knew that it was simply a matter of time before all would be revealed to his enemies. "You shall find out soon enough", came his reply.

As soon as his last words had been uttered, the hologram disappeared from sight and the sphere began to crack and break apart in mid-air leaving small black shards on the floor of the hanger. All of those present turned to face Sonic looking for leadership and action at this significant point in time.

"What's the plan, Sonic?", asked Tails.

"We have two days to get to the 'Devils Teeth' mountains, so we had better get moving", came the reply as the blue hedgehog gazed out at the bright sunshine.

…………………………………………………………….

**Hope you enjoyed what has been written so far, the next few chapters will be up when I am able to write them but I guarantee that you'll want to follow this story to the end (at least I hope you all will). Also before I forget, PLEASE REVIEW I want lots of reviews please. **


	4. Operation Rose Rescue

I did think about writing about the journey that everyone took to reach Eggman's fortress but I decided not to bother because it seemed pointless, and besides I assumed everyone would use their imagination, Tails, knuckles, Rouge and the Rogues take the

**I did think about writing about the journey that everyone took to reach Eggman's fortress but I decided not to bother because it seemed pointless, and besides I assumed everyone would use their imagination, Tails, knuckles, Rouge and the Rogues take the Tornado and Sonic and Shadow race each other there. And besides I wanted to get straight into the action. So let us carry on with Chapter 4.**

**Chapter 4: Operation Rose Rescue**

The Devils Teeth, such a name perfectly suited the environment to which the Sonic team found themselves in. Sonic and Shadow had been racing each other for nearly two days straight, only pain from their injuries and the desire for sleep made them think twice about carrying on. Tails had taken the X-Tornado since it was perfectly suited for long distance flights without the worry of burning off too much fuel, unfortunately the plane's sheer size was causing problems of its own. As they neared the jagged mountains the terrain became so hazardous that Tails had to increase the altitude so as not to crash into the large rock spikes that jutted out like rose thorns from the mountains, this caused of a bit of a shake up of the passengers especially those who were clinging onto the wings of the jet for dear life. Since Rouge and Wave had suffered the most serious injuries they had been permitted to sit within cockpit of the jet and act as co-pilots, the others however, especially Knuckles who had insisted that Rouge sit safely within the plane, were beginning to wonder if they had made a bad mistake.

Suddenly Tails had to pull up almost at a sheer ninety degree angle in order to avoid contact with a cliff face that lay within his flight path, this almost achieved the catastrophic result of Jet, Storm and Knuckles being thrown off the wings and plunging to their deaths. As the plane leveled out above the mountain range they were faced with yet another problem, unnatural lightning. Tails had encountered Lightning before and he usually preferred to avoid it but this was nothing like he had come across before, the sky grew dark and the sunlight that was struggling to fight its way through the clouds made it appear as if the entire sky was lit up with fire. The lightning appeared in blinding flashes occasionally striking the mountains themselves and breaking apart huge chunks of rock and sending them hurtling towards the ground below, this was becoming an annoying hazard to Sonic and Shadow who were trying to out do one another in their race.

Forty seven hours and thirty six minutes were up and they were all still a fair few miles away from Eggman's fortress, however Tails could see the structure some way off in the distance. He, Sonic and Knuckles had visited Eggman's humble abode many times in the past but this was the first time in history that they were going there under an invitation to partake in the mad doctors latest ploy, usually he would go to them and attack and then retreat making Sonic, Tails and Knuckles follow him all the way out into this barren wasteland. Eventually with only a few minutes to spare Tails landed the Tornado on a fairly stable patch of rock only a few meters away from the nearest entrance to the fortress, he opened the hatch, unbuckled himself and flew off straight towards the twin metal doors. There was no time to waste, Sonic and Shadow had not yet arrived and the others would have taken too long to run for the entrance so Tails felt that it was all left up to him. Eventually he landed in front of the twin metal doors and looked in shock at his watch.

"Oh hell, thirty seconds left before the deadline is up".

He tried to force open the doors but to no avail, he then spun himself round looking in all directions for some way to make contact with the doctor and let him know that hey had passed his first challenge. Unfortunately though, there were no air vents to use to gain access or security monitors keeping a watch on the door. In utter desperation Tails smacked his fists repeatedly against the metal doors whilst at the same time shouting to the doctor, amazingly it worked. With three seconds to spare and Tails almost ready to give up hope a steel plate parted from the right hand side of the twin doors and a small camera on a retractable metal arm with a small voice emitting device attached to it appeared in front of the stunned Kitsune.

"Ah I see you made it, and just in the nick of time too. I don't think Amy could have contained her excitement, or her blood for that matter, any longer", came the raspy and cold humored laugh from the doctor.

Tails instantly felt a mixture of anger and concern at hearing Eggman's words, "What have you done to her?, if you've hurt her…".

"Calm yourself boy, I was just making a joke. She is more valuable to me alive, as are you all for that matter. Well for the time being at least".

"We have passed your first challenge now are you gonna let us in or do we have to force our way in like we've done countless times?", remarked Tails in a fairly cocky manner.

"No need to strain yourself making a dent in my door, fox-boy. I'll be happy to open the way for you", and with that the twin doors that marked the entrance to the madman's lair parted and revealed a long dark corridor.

"You may proceed when ready just don't take too long, I'll be waiting", and with that the security camera retracted back into the wall from whence it came and disappeared from view.

Tails took a few steps back and gazed up at the tall structure, the fortress was constructed in three layers each one slightly smaller than the one which it was built upon and consisting of hundreds of metal towers that emitted crackling electricity. The electricity passed from one tower to the next completely circling the fortress in rings of crackling light, next to them were constructed many dark exhaust towers that belched thick black smoke and fumes up into the atmosphere. "_That must be the cause of the bad weather around here_" thought Tails to himself. Finally, as well as the sound of nerve shattering thunder and lightning, there was the sound of heavy machinery from somewhere deep within the bowls of the fortress echoing up along the corridor.

Tails didn't have long to wait until the Babylon Rogues, followed by Knuckles and Rouge supporting one another, approached him. Sonic and Shadow were still nowhere to be seen.

"Did we make it in time?", asked Knuckles in a concerned tone.

"Yes, with exactly three seconds to spare", came the relieved reply.

"What does that fat bastard have in store for us now I wonder?", came an anxious voice from Jet.

"No idea, but we should…"

"Out of my way kid, I'm going in", barked Jet as he pushed passed Tails and headed towards the open doors. However he didn't get very far when Tails grabbed hold of his arm.

"We don't go anywhere yet, we wait for Sonic and Shadow to get here then we make our move, got it", came the pissed of response. The little fox was not going to be pushed around by this green feather duster, he was determined to wait until all were present and accounted for before heading into certain danger.

"Like you can stop me you little runt", laughed Jet who snatched his arm back from Tails. He was just about to enter the corridor when he felt a small, but nonetheless powerful, force tackle him to the ground.

Tails put all of his weight onto the back of the green bird, who was not at all amused about being tackled by a mere child, "Now you listen to me, we go in when Sonic and Shadow get here. If you go in there by yourself you'll end up dead, I guarantee it".

Everyone who stood around watching what had just happened almost felt their jaws fall to the ground, none of them had seen Tails get so annoyed that he would physically attack someone who was meant to be on the same team as him. Knuckles and Wave were actually quite impressed by what they were witnessing, Sonic most likely would have been too if he were there. Tails then backed off and allowed Jet to stand up, he turned towards the little fox with rage in his eyes.

"Why you little", he raised his fist high into the air and brought it down towards Tails's head, but just at that moment a familiar individual appeared. Sonic race out of nowhere towards Tails in a flash of blue light, so fast was he that no-one noticed him until he stood still right in front of them. Just as Jet was about to strike Tails, Sonic grabbed hold of Jet's hand and twisted his arm behind his back. Tails, who had his eyes covered, felt his fear immediately vanish when he pulled his hands away from his face and gazed upon the form of his loyal blue brother.

"Phew, thanks Sonic", he said in total relief.

Sonic just gave his brother his trade mark thumbs up sign with his free hand and then turned to speak into Jet's ear…

"You ever even think about hurting my little brother again and I'll snap your neck like a twig, understand?". Sonic would have been seething with rage about what he had tried to do to Tails, but when Sonic had Jet over a barrel he felt no need to get angry. Once his point was made by twisting Jet's arm a little tighter that it made him grit his teeth in pain and let out a slight cry, Sonic released his grip.

"Such childish antics, but then again I expected nothing less from such weak creatures", came a sly and somewhat arrogant remark from Shadow who had been watching everything that had transpired whilst leaning against a large rock.

"You calling me weak, black rat", barked Jet.

Shadow pushed himself away from the rock and walked towards the entrance of the doctor's lair mocking all those nearby, "I think you had all better wait out here where it's safe, I can take care of this myself without any assistance. Besides, I wouldn't want you to hurt yourselves". Shadow glanced around everyone individually, all displayed looks of anger towards him but he didn't care. The hedgehog gave a crooked smirk and then disappeared off into the darkness.

"Fucking arrogant bastard, I say let him go. Then after he's dead we'll go in and finish the job he started", remarked Knuckles.

"I agree, let the rat bite off more than he can chew", came a furious response from Jet, who was still seething over Shadow's previous comment.

"Sonic, we must go after him, he may be an arrogant sod but he's still one of the team. We must help him, whether he wants it or not", said Tails who was desperately hoping that Sonic felt the same way.

Sonic was simply staring into the darkness of the corridor shaking his head at Shadow's incredible stupidity, "Your right, Tails", the blue hedgehog then motioned with his hand for everyone to follow him inside, "Okay team, lets find him before that pride of his gets him killed".

Sonic led the team along the dark corridor towards an uncertain end. On and on it went but even though the actual distance that they had covered was not much, it felt like they had been walking for miles. Especially since they had to tread carefully because there was no light in order for them to see where they were going, that and the constant fear of traps embedding itself within each of their minds. As they continued along the dark corridor at a slow pace they suddenly felt the walkway collapse beneath them at sharp angle, try as they might none of them could grip the surface of the walkway, it was simply too smooth and slippery and thus they all slid down into the dark bowls of the fortress. All of them except for Tails.

Tails had just managed to start spinning his twin appendages in time to prevent his own fall, all that could be heard from his compatriots were the shrieks of fear as they descended into the darkness. The little fox slowly descended into the unknown, showing signs of nervousness he was becoming increasingly concerned for his friends wondering whether they were alive or dead. As he dropped down further his blue eyes caught sight of a small purple light, the further he descended the brighter the light became until he could see nothing around him except the light. As he tried to shout out to whomever or whatever the light was his voice was drowned out by the constant buzzing, whirring and clanking of machines in the distance. Shielding his eyes from the brightness Tails shuddered in shock as his sneakers touched the cold, solid metal beneath them, finally realizing that he had reached the bottom.

Still covering his eyes with his hands, Tails almost leapt a foot into the air in fright when a strong hand gripped his shoulder. "You okay little bro, we were wondering what became of you", asked a concerned blue hedgehog.

"Christ Sonic, you almost scared me to death", came the relieved response, "Is everyone alright?".

"Yes everyone's fine, just a few extra bruises but nothing serious".

"Where's Shadow?".

"Who the hell do you think was the person that created the light?", barked the red and black hedgehog as he lifted the glowing purple chaos emerald high above his head revealing himself and the others all standing around the stunned Kitsune.

"I'm glad that your okay, Shadow", came a relieved, but yet nervous, response from the fox.

Shadow just turned away and began walking, he actually felt quite sickened at the fact that this kid was worried about him, "Don't bother me with your pathetic concerns, now are you going to accompany us?. Or are you scared of the dark?", he said in a mocking tone.

Tails felt incredibly insulted by Shadow's remark, he was about to utter a response when Sonic put a comforting hand on his shoulder, "Just let it go Tails, he's not worth it". Tails looked down at the dark metallic floor in frustration but he knew deep down that Sonic was right, he was determined not to let Shadow, or anyone else for that matter, get on his nerves. Tails then looked up to see the purple light disappear off into the distance to which he and Sonic quickly chased after it.

The team now simply had no idea where they were heading, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles were unable to provide any help due to the fact that they had simply not been this deep into Eggman's fortress. The group was placed in a position with only one option available, to simply keep going forward along a narrow corridor. As Shadow lit the way ahead for them they could see that the corridor was so narrow that it was impossible for any two people to walk abreast of one another, however it soon branched out into a wide open space. Shadow raised the emerald into the air in order to try and get an idea of the size and scale of the room that they now found themselves in, he needn't have bothered doing so for as soon as they had entered unnoticed lights embedded in the ceiling flashed into life temporarily blinding those standing below.

The large room was covered in wall to wall steel plates but at the far end two twin metal doors stood open to receive them. The team pressed forward towards the doors but Sonic and Shadow bade them stand back, it was simply too easy to make it this far and not run into any opposition. Besides this room was so large that it provided the perfect opportunity for Eggman to set an ambush. Fearing that the floor of the room would be motion and pressure sensitive in order to set off whatever traps had been set up, Sonic decided that Tails was perfectly suited to the task that lay before them.

"Tails, fly across to those doors and shout back to us what you can see".

Tails gave his brother a serious nod and took off towards the doors. As he approached them he could see someone in the distance, he slowed his speed down fearing that it might be Eggman himself. But as he moved closer he could make out the small form of a pink object suspended from a steel girder in the distance, the light was not very good but Tails's keen eyesight made him instantly recognize who it was. He made a speedy dash for the doors but when he came within a few feet of them they slammed shut with a thunderous crash.

"SONIC IT'S A TRAP!", screamed Tails in horror.

Just as he was about to dart back towards the rest of the team, two steel panels on the walls and one on the ceiling fell to the ground releasing three fleshy humanoid life forms from their hiding places. One of them grabbed Tails by his twin appendages as he tried to flee, pulled him into a tight embrace and wrapped in muscled right arm around his throat, Sonic tried to make a spindash towards the creature holding Tails but before he could get within spitting distance of it one of the other creatures caught him within its strong hands and casually threw him back at his team mates. The beast hadn't even broken a sweat from blocking the attack.

Sonic, who had crashed into the rest of the group, painfully stood up and gazed at the bizarre humanoids with furious anger burning within him. He had underestimated these things but he did not yet realize just how tough a challenge they would be to defeat, for these, unbeknownst to Sonic and the others at the moment, were the same creatures that had been responsible for Amy's capture. Just as Sonic, supported by Shadow and Knuckles, was about to make a second attack against them the familiar and menacing voice of Eggman entered into the room from an unknown position.

"I'm glad to see that you have made it this far, my friends. Now it gives me great pleasure to present you with your second challenge".

"ORDER THESE THINGS TO RELEASE TAILS, NOW!", screamed Sonic.

"Of course, you'll need all the help you can get to take down my HUNTERS".

The humanoid that held Tails captive suddenly threw him towards the nearest wall, but Sonic was able to race towards him and grab a hold of the little fox before he impacted with it. "How you holding up, Tails?", he asked.

"I'm good Sonic, but I saw Amy, she's behind those doors tied to a steel girder".

"Looks like we'll have to deal with these pests first, then we'll get to her", said Sonic as he first glanced towards the creatures, who were standing silent and motionless, and then began to look all around the room for any indication as to where Eggman's voice was coming from.

"What the hell are these HUNTERS of yours, Eggman. Your latest pets?".

"They are my earliest bio-weapon experiments", came the doctor's reply.

"So I take it that you didn't need our DNA for these things then?", remarked Tails.

"That is correct, in fact it is Shadow that I must give thanks to".

Everyone turned to look at Shadow, who was now feeling quite uneasy about how the situation was proceeding. "What do I have to do with any of this", he shouted across the room.

"Before you betrayed me you participated in some of my earliest research into the power of biological organisms. These creatures that now stand before you are the results of that research, and I must say, they have performed better that I had expected. They were the ones that had captured your team mate, Amy, and thus brought you all to me here".

Shadow closed his eyes in disbelief at what he had just heard, he began to remember how he willingly participating in the madman's experiments during his time that he served under Eggman's rule. He remembered how he was tortured with all kinds of strange mechanical equipment in order for his master to better understand the nature of his unique power, but there was only so much that he was willing to take. He had toughened out the pain simply because he had convinced himself that emotions were a source of great weakness but as time went on he began to sense the feeling of those complex emotions surface within him, he began to feel that there was more to his existence that that of, what he would later call, being a slave under Eggman. Eventually his anger boiled over, he destroyed as much of Eggman's research as he could find and broke out of his metallic prison in order to live his own life as he saw fit. It was not long afterwards that he became caught up in the trials and tribulations of Sonic and his friends. Since then, he had decided to put that painful part of his past to rest and hoped that he had destroyed all that Eggman sought to create from his experiments conducted on him. But now it seemed obvious that he had failed.

"You set my research back a fair few years Shadow, but unfortunately for you I was able to transfer my most precious data to somewhere beyond your destructive reach. Just as a precaution in case you did decide to turn against me".

"I will not allow you to succeed Eggman", Shadow shouted as he pulled out his purple chaos emerald from under his black quills and held it out in front of him, "With the power of this chaos emerald within my possession, you cannot be victorious here".

The doctor just let out a nerve shaking laugh in response to Shadows defiance, "I'm so glad that you brought one of those precious gems with you, my friend. I had planned to scour the entire planet to search for them all but only one will suit my purpose just fine. Allow me to take it off your hands, we wouldn't want you to cause any unnecessary damage now would we". Before Shadow could react, the purple gemstone vanished from his grasp.

"Now that you no longer hold the advantage this little challenge should make for some quite interesting results. I throw down the gauntlet to you all, if you can defeat my creations then you shall have your precious comrade returned to you. If you fail then you'll be joining her in the afterlife, so I bid you good luck", and with that he remained silent.

The Sonic team gazed across the room at their three opponents, all of them, except for Shadow, had a mixture of fear and determination to succeed in their eyes. Little did they all know it but this was but the beginning of the greatest challenge of each of their lives.

…………………………………………….

**The next chapter will include a fair amount of fighting right from the get go, as you can expect. But I will also divulge the secret of Eggman's scheme with regards to each of the hero's DNA. I'll have the next few chapters up ASAP. PLEASE REVIEW.**


	5. Know Thy Enemy

Chapter 5: Know Thy Enemy

**This entire chapter is just one monumentous brawl, so I hope you all enjoy it and please review. **

**Chapter 5: Know Thy Enemy**

All three humanoids stood motionless, for the moment at least, at their positions guarding the doors to Eggman's inner sanctum, Sonic and Knuckles stood in their battle positions preferring to let their foes make the first move. Behind them stood Rouge and the Rogues whilst Tails hovered above, Shadow on the other hand was determined to take down these beasts with ease with or without the help of the others. Once again his arrogance was rearing its ugly head, soon it would rebound on him.

"Knuckles, you and Tails take the one on the right", Sonic then turned to face the others, "Rouge, you and the Rogues take the one on the left. Shadow and I will deal with the one in the middle".

"No need for any assistance from weaker species, I'll deal with these scum", barked the ebony hedgehog.

Before Sonic could try and stop him, Shadow charged towards the centre humanoid. The two creatures either side of the centre one charged forward to meet him head on, Shadow's right hand suddenly began to crackle and glow with bright yellow light and small sparks began to emit from it creating little charred marks on the metal floor. He proceeded to stretch his hand out behind him and then brought it back around with tremendous force, "CHAOS SPEAR!", he yelled as sudden beams of pure chaotic energy spouted forth from his hand and impacted against the two enemies that had strangely decided to cease their charge against him. Thick smoke covered them for a few minutes and Shadow began to grin in triumph thinking that such and easy foe was not worth his time or effort, however he was shocked to discover that when the smoke had cleared not a single scratch had been inflicted upon either of them. In fact neither of them had even bothered to defend themselves against his attack.

Shadow grunted in annoyance but he soon began to smirk again, he had one other trick up his sleeve that he knew no-one could withstand. Shadow placed his hand, palm flat, on the metal ground, he then closed his eyes as if in some kind of strange ritualistic prayer and his hand began to emit a powerful red glow. Sparks of pulsating energy erupted forth in or directions, "CHAOS… BLAST!", he shouted causing the room to light up in a bright red glow. The power that he let loose was so immense that the metal beneath him began to shudder and twist before melting into a pool of molten steel, many of the steel plates on the walls became so severely dented and twisted that they came away and collapsed to the ground. The two creatures stood directly in the path of the hedgehog's attack and were consequently hurled back against the metal walls of the room, thinking that he had now gained open access to the third humanoid Shadow charged straight towards it planning to knock it down with a powerful right hook.

However, as he neared the creature, who had refused to move in any direction nor take any defensive measures to block his assault, it waited until the last moment before dodging his strike with incredibly quick reflexes and delivered a powerful elbow punch to the back of his head. Shadow could not break out of his charge in time and so the strike sent him careering into the twin metal doors thus causing a large dent to be made in them. As Shadow tried to lift himself up off the floor the creature grabbed hold of his left leg, swung him around and around about three times and then let him go flying off into the left hand side wall. The creature, followed by the other two, then proceeded to march back to their previous positions guarding the doors and remained motionless, round one clearly belonged to them but the fight was not over yet.

Sonic and Tails rushed over to their wounded team member as he lay groaning on the floor, Shadow was looking worse for wears and felt terribly ashamed and frustrated that he had failed so miserably. Sonic, despite Shadow's reluctance, helped him up from the floor and walked him back to their section of the room, the black hedgehog's head now bore a bad scar from which a trickle of blood was being emitted and his arms and legs were covered in cuts and his own blood. But that was not the worst part. Shadow had used up too much of his energy in the fight and thus he became so weak that he collapsed to the ground in an unconscious state. Sonic pulled the comatose form of his team mate into the dark corridor and left him leaning against the narrow wall before returning to his comrades, hopefully when Shadow eventually woke up he would have gained enough energy in order for the battle to swing their way. Only time would tell.

"Knuckles, Tails. Shadow's out cold so I guess it's up to us to engage these creatures without him for the time being, hopefully we can bide enough time for him to successfully recharge".

"Typical, the one time we need that idiot and this is what happens to him. But it matters not, we can take these things down without him", remarked Knuckles as he focused a sneering glare in the direction of the HUNTERS.

"Do not underestimate these beasts, Knuckles. They are far more cunning and powerful than you think", came the blue hedgehog's reply in the form of a stark warning.

"I take it that we are sticking with the original plan then?", said Rouge as she suddenly appeared beside Sonic.

"Almost, this time you and Knuckles take the one on the right and the Rogues will take the one on the left. I think Tails and I can handle the third".

Sonic shot a glance over towards Tails, "Are you ready for this lil bro?".

Tails clenched his fists together and smacked them against one another before looking at his brother with a confident grin, "Ready", was his only reply.

The entire team walked towards their marked targets. As they began their approach they sized up their opponents checking for any indications of weak spots or injuries, but yet there were none. The HUNTERS refused to move at all, they simply stood still transfixed to the spot with their arms crossed and waiting for their enemies to strike first. The three groups then broke into a run and charged at their intended targets, the HUNTERS similarly charging to meet them head on.

Knuckles ran at his foe and threw a punch towards the creature's gut, the humanoid dodged the attack, much to the echidna's surprise, and landed a powerful fist to the back of his skull sending him straight to the floor in pain. Now the beast had made its first mistake, it had been so preoccupied with taking down its first victim that it had failed to combat the threat Rouge posed to it. The batgirl had been soaring through the air waiting for Knuckles to throw the first punch before she herself would attack, the beast now had its back to her and was only alerted to her presence when the sudden scream of "SCREW KICK!" echoed throughout the room. The HUNTER turned to look towards the ceiling just as Rouge planted a swift kick to its head forcing it off its feet and into the metal floor with a roaring crash. The metal work beneath it twisted and tore apart upon impact creating a small crater. As Rouge began to retract her foot from its face, the creature suddenly grabbed her leg and hurled her against the nearest wall. Knuckles, who had now forced himself off the floor despite still being in pain, rushed to her side. He held her in his arms as she let out a slight moan of pain, tears began to trickle down his face and his heart burned with untamed fury at what this monster had done.

The red echidna lay her down gently on her back and left her to gather her wits and her strength before carrying on , he then glared at the monster with unbridled fury as it approached him. Slowly he rose from the floor and walked towards it, the HUNTER raised its right fist up into the air and proceeded to bring it down upon him. Knuckles gave a quick smirk and caught the fist in his own hand without even breaking his gaze with the creature, as the beast struggled to remove its hand from its foe's grip Knuckles snapped its arm like a twig and then proceeded to deliver a powerful spiked punch to the torso sending it reeling back and crashing into the wall on the opposite side of the room. Knuckles just stood there huffing and panting and not uttering a word, he had never felt rage like this before in fact he never even thought that such anger could have been created within him. The worrying thing was however, that he actually rather liked was he was feeling.

This exquisite murderous feeling which had been born out of what happened to Rouge had allowed him to tap into such raw power that had he not been seduced by it, then it would doubtless have worried him. Nevertheless he loved the feeling that his untamed rage was giving him and so charged at the enemy with such speed that even the HUNTER's super fast reflexes couldn't react against it, Knuckles pinned it against the wall and threw punch after mighty punch against it. He threw so many spiked punches against it that the creature began to bleed profusely from the inflicted wounds, his final punch struck its head so hard that the force of the blow broke its neck making the head swing back and forth only being held to the rest of the body by mere flesh. As the creature slumped to the floor, apparently deceased, Knuckles felt the anger within him disappear entirely and he himself collapsed onto his knees in exhaustion. Standing up, Knuckles avoided the other battles that were going on around him and began to walk back towards where Rouge was still lying, unfortunately before he reached her he turned around to see the creature that he thought was dead push itself off the ground and stand before him. The monster's broken arm began to twist back into place and its broken neck began to re-attach itself to its spinal column whilst making some gut churning sounds as it did so.

"Oh shit, this just keeps getting better and better", came the frustrated and angry response to what he was witnessing. Knuckles stood in battle position ready to take on the monster, again. But before he could even make a move the beast hurled itself at him forcing him to the ground where it began beating him senseless.

As Knuckles was being pummeled, the Babylon Rogues were finding their own fight rather tough going. Jet and Wave had been able to grab hold of their foe by both arms and hold it in position long enough for their comrade to take it down, "SKULL BASH!", roared Storm as he charged head long at the HUNTER. However the creature could sense that an enemy was fast approaching, it therefore, using its tremendous strength, tossed Jet to one side of the room and Wave to the other. Storm was unable to break out of his charge attack and as he got within a certain distance of his target the creature let loose a mighty kick which struck the colossal bird underneath the chin and sent him hurtling to the ground with a great crash.

As the bulky albatross tried to stand the beast suddenly leapt upon him and began trying to throttle him to death, Storm could feel his great strength slip away second by second as the beast gripped his feathered throat tighter and tighter. Just as Storm was on the brink of passing out he suddenly felt the air rush back into his lungs, what had happened was that Wave had come to her friend's rescue. Seeing that Storm was fast approaching death she charged at the HUNTER and impacted against its left shoulder with such force that she was able to force the creature to release its grip and end up smacking against the metal wall. As soon as the beast was down Jet was on it with unbridled savagery, throwing punches all across its body with as much strength as he possessed. Again and again he laid into it smacking the creature's head against the steel wall as he did so, Storm, now incredibly furious about what had occurred just minutes before, joined in the beating. Bones broke with sickening cracking sounds and blood poured from the wounds as Storm began punching its torso with such force that he felt many ribs buckle and break under the pressure.

However even this was not enough, the creature raised its head to face them and with one swift movement of its hand it pushed both assailants away from it and onto the floor. Jet and Storm lay on the metal floor in a complete daze whilst the creature rose off the ground in front of them and began walking in their direction, standing just feet away from them both Rogues could see, from the way the flesh on the torso moved, the creatures broken ribs bent back into shape and re-from solid bone. Even the blood had ceased to flow from its now perfectly healed wounds, in fact so utterly complete was this thing that all the energy and effort that the two of them had put into beating the shit out of this monster had been utterly fruitless. As they tried to scramble away from the oncoming foe Wave leapt up onto its back and twisted its neck around with such force and speed that it broke with and eye-wincing crack, the creature stumbled and collapsed to the ground but already there were signs indicating that it was beginning to re-heal itself.

Storm and Jet raced over to it, they had an opportunity to deal some major damage now that it was down but what could they do that would disable it for good. As Jet and Wave desperately pondered over what to do, Storm took to the fore. He placed one foot on the centre of the creature's spine, grabbed both arms in his hands and pulled them behind its back. the creature tried in sheer desperation to escape for it could feel its spine begin to buckle under the pressure, eventually it gave out and snapped in two with a slow and sickening crack. As the HUNTER squirmed around on the floor Storm realised that he had only bought time, since its spinal column had been severed the beasts legs no longer functioned, for the moment at least, meaning that it could not stand and fight against them.

"We gotta do somink boss, before it can use its legs again".

Wave desperately thought for an answer, just what would put this thing gown and make it stay that way. Then it came to her. "Storm, its head. Crush it, maybe that'll do the trick.

Storm nodded in acceptance of his orders, he proceeded to walk around to the front of the creature. Gently he placed his right foot on top of the head thus pinning it to the floor despite its useless struggles for freedom, he than glanced at Wave who nodded at him in encouragement to do what he must. He shot one quick glance towards Jet, who gave the same indication, before forcing all of his weight into one central point and slamming his foot down. It was all over it a matter of seconds, the skull exploded sending blood, bone fragments and brain tissue all across the once shiny metal floor. The HUNTER began to writhe about on the floor even more fiercely that it had done before as its nerves began to slowly cease functioning altogether, after only a minute or two it remained motionless on the floor as blood continued to gush from the head wound.

"I think that's done it", said Wave in relief.

"Yeah, I'd like to see it try and heal that one", came Jet's reply.

As they looked at one another in total relief at what they had achieved it became noticeable that the others were far from finished with their own battles. Shadow was still unconscious in the corridor, Rouge was badly injured, Knuckles was being pounded into the ground and Sonic and Tails were just barely holding on.

"Looks like Knuckles and Rouge could use our help, what do you say guys", asked Wave. Jet and Storm looked at each other with sly smiles etched across their faces, they then glanced back at Wave who took their facial expressions for a simple yes. All three Rogues charged across the room towards Knuckles, they would not allow their team mate to fight alone.

Knuckles was suffering a severe beating, he could feel his skull vibrate with each punch that impacted against making him to slip in and out of consciousness. Just as he felt a small crack be made in his jawbone, the beating ceased. Knuckles opened his eyes, his vision was a bit blurry but he could still see what was going on. The Babylon Rogues had tackled his assailant to the ground and had begun laying into this monster just as they had done to the previous one. Unfortunately their overconfidence became their downfall, they underestimated this foe and as a result were easily overpowered and tossed aside. Storm and Wave were sent crashing against one another into the wall and Jet was sent crashing into Knuckles, the red echidna rolled Jet's body off him and checked his condition, he had been hit with such brute force that the impact on his gut and sent his body system into shock thus making him pass out. But luckily he still lived.

Knuckles glared at his enemy as it rose of the floor in front of him, how dare this thing hurt those who had tried to help him, it had hurt the girl he cared about and now it had hurt his rescuers. It would hurt no-one else. As he glared at his foe, that stood poised ready to accept his attack move, the rage began to build up within him again. That glorious feeling of raw, wild power filling him with murderous rage now made him all but invulnerable to anything that could be thrown against him. Now he would prove it. He charged towards the HUNTER at breakneck speed, so fast in fact that its senses could not pick up his movements or location within the room, he proceeded to grab the beast by the right shoulder and force it to the ground. As he increased the pressure the monster's shoulder bone began to crack and splinter underneath the flesh, unfortunately the humanoid grabbed his left shoulder in return and began to exert its own pressure upon it. Knuckles would have normally toughened out the pain but this was the same shoulder that Tails had patched up some hours previously, it had yet to fully heal and now that the beast recognized a chink in its enemy's armour it began to exploit it.

Knuckles screamed in pain, but this only served to fuel his savage hatred for Eggman's monstrous creation. He suddenly released his grip on the beast's, now crushed, shoulder, raised his spiked fist high into the air and let out a cry of pure savage, blood curdling anathema before impaling the creature's entire head on his arm as his spiked fist plunged through its featureless face, through the metal floor and into the rocky ground upon which the fortress was built killing it instantly. For a moment the echidna's mind was blank with rage, but slowly regained focus as the anger within him melted back into the dark voids of his psyche. Knuckles huffed and panted with exhaustion but then felt his stomach twist and constrict within him when he looked down and gazed upon the bloody mess that was once his foe, blood, bone and sinew were everywhere and covered a small section of the room as well as his arm. As he collapsed onto his back with exhaustion Knuckles twisted his head round to the right and gazed upon the still unconscious form of Rouge lying near him, "_I did it... Rouge… that thing will… not harm you…again_", was his scrambled thought as he himself finally blacked out into darkness.

As things stood, two of the humanoids lay broken and dead whilst many of the Sonic team were badly beaten, unconscious or near to it. Only Sonic and Tails remained standing to fight on.

Tails had the edge in maneuverability over his opponent due to his flight ability whilst Sonic had the edge in speed on the ground, however the last HUNTER was proving to be one stubborn bastard to take down. As Sonic provided a decoy target for the creature's attacks Tails would dive bomb it and try to knock it down from above, occasionally this would prove successful and the final monster would be hurled to the ground creating a small crater upon impact. Rising from the dented and twisted metal the humanoid began its counterattack, it lashed out at Tails and struck him in the chest sending him flying back hitting and sliding along the floor.

Sonic dashed to his friend's position, as he knelt next to him Sonic could see that Tails was in pain but this seemed to only stiffen his resolve to carry on fighting. The odd tear trickled down his furry cheeks but as quickly as they appeared the little fox would wipe them away, determined as ever not to show any from of weakness to his brother even though Sonic knew that I was okay to cry when in pain. To Sonic, crying didn't mean that you were weak, in fact it showed your strength because by showing such emotions you would strive to succeed where others could not and you would not give in no matter how tough the situation would become. Showing emotions means that you care and by caring for others you demonstrate your true power to all, this was something Sonic knew that Shadow would find incredibly difficult to comprehend.

"How you holding up lil buddy, you good to give it another shot?". Tails didn't give a verbal reply to the question, instead he just gave his brother the thumbs up followed by a slight wink. Sonic instantly took that as a yes.

"If you're feeling up to it I need you to launch me at that thing, maybe a spindash will put it down for good".

"I'm with you bro", and with that Tails began to lift Sonic into the air, he was still suffering from the injury and so lifting his blue brother high into the air became quite painful for him. But he just grit his teeth and toughened it out.

The HUNTER stood in battle position on the ground a few feet away from Tails and awaited the inevitable second attack. Tails, when he felt that he had reached a satisfactory height, began spinning Sonic in the air before hurling him towards the target, Sonic broke into a spindash and attempted to strike at the beast head on. Unluckily for him it proved unsuccessful. As Sonic came within range the creature clasped him within its two muscled hands and then hurled him back to the far side of the room, being unable to break out of his spindash Sonic collided with the nearest wall and collapsed to the ground unconscious. Tails simply stared at his fallen brother with great shock and sadness entering his eyes, unable to move or react in any way to the creature bearing down upon him Tails was helpless to defend himself against the beast as it plucked him from the air by his twin appendages and slammed him into the ground.

When he opened his eyes to look up and see the monster stand towering over him great fear embedded itself within his very soul, but then something incredibly bizarre occurred. Tails suddenly felt compelled to shoot a glance back at his comatose brother lying bloody and battered against the wall, it was as if he was somehow being called to look in that direction but for what reason he could not understand. As he continued to stare at his blue brother, along with his other comatose comrades, the fear within him evaporated and what emerged instead was truly terrifying, he slowly looked back at his nemesis but this time he was no longer the terrified orange fox that was being held captive, this time he was something different altogether. Tails's orange fur erupted in flashes of black light appearing as if he was alight with black fire, the flames spread across the entire surface of his body making his fur move about as if being blown about by some strange gust of wind that simply did not exist. His once pure and beautiful sparkling blue eyes completely vanished and became replaced with murderous red ones, but these were not merely the same colour as Shadow's own eyes, no, these were eyes that appeared to literally be stained with blood and emitting a bone chilling red glow that seemed to pierce through the flesh of whomever he gazed at. His once spotless white gloves became covered in strange symbols that began to emit a strange dark glow of their own, it was a something that the Tails had never seen before in his life but he was not at all concerned about it in any way, shape or form. All that mattered to him was the raw and angry feeling of power spread throughout his entire body as if he had become internally ablaze with raging fire.

The HUNTER brought his right hand to bear against it victim to try and choke him to death, however Tails grabbed hold of the muscled arm, much to the surprise of the bearer, and proceeded to throw the entire beast over his shoulder with minimal effort. As the creature slammed into the ground with a thunderous crash, Tails lifted himself off the floor, glared at his humbled foe, and charged head on towards it. When the humanoid removed itself from the floor it was met by two powerful twin-tails smacking it straight in the face sending it hurtling back against the nearest wall with another thunderous crash and causing a section of the ceiling to collapse on top of it. Tails was about to rush forward and thus end the final battle once and for all when he froze in mid air and clasped his head in his hands in agony.

Tails was waging an internal struggle against himself in his mind, part of him wanted to embrace the new raw power that he had acquired but the other half was trying to force the darkness out of him. He collapsed onto his knees in pain, the selfish and cruel dark side of his psyche, the side he never until now knew had even existed, was fighting to maintain its control over him but other half representing kindness, love and selflessness eventually won the civil war. Tails's fur began to alter once again but this time it simply changed back to the way it was before, the black flames had disappeared, the symbols on his gloves had vanished and his eyes, although he could not tell, had reverted back to their previous colour. The little fox pondered in his mind if this was the result of what he had seen when he had looked upon Sonic and the others in their wounded state, it still did not make total sense to him but one thing he knew for certain was that if he hadn't mutated into that dark and powerful alternate form then he simply wouldn't be alive now.

Before he could try to stand he felt the room tremble beneath his feet, as he looked over to where the final HUNTER had supposedly been buried fear raced through him once again when he looked upon the enemy ahead of him as it brushed aside the collapsed ceiling section and charged towards him. Tails cowered in fear as this ferocious beast charged towards him, before he even realised what was happening he was forced onto his back with the beast stood over him. Looking down upon the terrified Kitsune with a featureless face it raised its fist high into the air with the intention of bringing it down upon him and kill him outright, Tails closed his eyes as tight as he could in absolute fear and waited for the attack to strike and death to take him in its loving grasp. But this was not to be the end of him.

A sudden flash of black and red light appeared as if from nowhere and collided head on with the monster as it was about to end the boy's life, Shadow the hedgehog had appeared from out of the darkness fully energized and ready to kick ass.

He forced the HUNTER back against the twin metal doors that marked the exit from this makeshift battle arena where he pinned it in place. Try as it might the humanoid was simply no match for this fully functioning black warrior now, as it squirmed in desperation to escape from his grasp a evil grin formed across Shadow's face.

"The battle ends here", came a low and ruthless comment.

"Let me show you a new trick I learned many years ago".

Shadow's quills began to crackle and ignite as beams of yellow light and bright sparks erupted forth from him in all directions, he then proceeded to place his hand, palm flat, against the HUNTER's chest. His gloved hand began to emit a powerful red glow followed by more sparks and physical chaotic energy made manifest, the light became so bright that Tails had to shield his eyes to prevent blindness. The light filled the room from end to end with an unnerving blood red glow and Shadow's quills began to blow about as if he was standing outdoors in gale force winds, then he leered at his faceless foe.

"NOVA BLAST!", he screamed.

The chaos energies that erupted forth from his hand enveloped the creature whole and within an instant it was vaporized. So complete had Shadow's destruction of the beast been that not a single fragment of tissue or drop of blood remained, all that had been left in the aftermath of the attack was a small charred crater in the floor and a giant hole in the twin metal doors. The heat from the blast had been so powerful that a significant section of the doors had disintegrated leaving nothing but smoke and molten metal.

The battles had been won but at what cost to the team and at what cost to the soul of each individual combatant.

……………………………………………………..

**Unfortunately this will be the last chapter for a little while because I have important university exams to contend with and they take priority I'm afraid, but I promise that in between revision I will keep adding to my new chapters. You're just gonna have to wait a little longer. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it. Please Review.**


	6. Entering Into the Unknown

Chapter 6: Know Thy Self

**So sorry loyal readers and reviewers alike that this has taken so long to post up, revision and exams have been boring at best and stressful at worst. Over the past week I've added to this chapter and this is the result, I hope you enjoy.**

**Chapter 6: Entering into the Unknown**

Shadow slowly retracted his arm away from the scene of desolation, a grin formed across his face indicating satisfaction with what he had accomplished. As he was about to walk away he gazed into the room ahead of him, the light being emitted from the ceiling shone behind him and entered through the now destroyed metal doors, from his position he could see Amy hanging like a rag doll from her shackles and seemingly not portraying any signs of life. Shadow felt a shred of concern enter his psyche as he gazed at the bedraggled figure in the distance, however he soon shunned it to the back of his mind. Turning to walk away from in the opposite direction he gazed across the half destroyed room/arena towards each member of the Sonic team in turn, finally his sight rested on Tails who was still shaking with both a mixture of fear and utter astonishment at what had just occurred right before his very eyes. Shadow began walking towards him at a slow and methodical pace, Tails was sitting up right and looking back at him in awe but as he came closer a sense of unease crept through his body. Thinking that the black hedgehog was simply going to walk past him like he didn't even exist, Tails was shocked when Shadow offered him his hand and thus helped him up off the cold steel floor.

"You handled yourself pretty well for an amateur, kid", came the somewhat kindly remark. However, it was plain for Tails to see that Shadow was almost forcing himself to utter such encouraging words almost as if he had gained a newfound respect for the young Kitsune. But alas, he soon reverted back to speaking his usual arrogant comments that everyone knew all too well.

"But I suggest you develop a backbone when taking on an opponent because next time I might not be here to save your ass, got it?".

Tails was a little infuriated by Shadow's cold words, his first thought was that the hedgehog might have had a point, but then again what did he know about the battles, he had been unconscious for the better part of it all. It was at that moment that Tails made a verbal come-back.

"Well at least _I_ don't go charging in head first into a fight, then get knocked out and force everyone else to fight alone whilst you take time out to recharge. Your arrogance almost cost you your life". This comment was quickly followed by a cocky smile that ran across the young fox's face indicating that he knew he had his opponent backed into a corner.

The hedgehog didn't bother to turn to face the boy, instead he just gave a slight grunt and carried on walking towards the opposite end of the room. Tails had made his point clear.

"Are you going to assist me with helping the others, or do I have to do that by myself?", Tails asked. He knew that this would get Shadow's back up but he really did need his assistance; he only hoped that Shadow would let out enough emotion in order to do so.

Shadow ceased walking and stood motionless on the spot, for a few moments he stared into nothingness as he thought about what was being asked of him. He didn't turn to face the fox directly but eventually made a reluctant reply, "Fine, you go and see to Sonic and I'll assist the Rogues".

Tails did not say anything but Shadow knew that his words had been received with approval when the boy stormed passed him and headed towards the unconscious form of Sonic. The blue hedgehog lay against the wall with his head hung low and showing no signs of life apart from the methodical movement of his chest lifting up and down as he drew breath, Tails crouched down next to his brother, took his right hand in his own and felt his pulse. The feeling of life flowing through the blue blur was strong, maybe not as strong as it had been before the fight but close enough. Tails leaned in closer and spoke into his brother's ear, "Sonic… Sonic… wake up Sonic", still no movement, Tails put his hands on his friend's shoulders and began to violently shake him with as much force as he could muster. At first it seemed as if that idea had failed as well but within a few moments two drooping eyelids opened one after the other, Sonic let out a painful moan but before he could offer any further reply he was suddenly being crushed by a powerful embrace from his little brother.

"OH SONIC!", shouted Tails in tremendous joy that his blue hero still lived.

"Tails… Tails… You're… crushing me", gasped Sonic as he desperately tried to refill his lungs with oxygen.

The lad quickly released the hedgehog from his vice-like grip when he realised that he was actually doing more harm than good, after quickly apologizing Tails helped his brother to stand, it was quite painful for the blue hedgehog but he just grit his teeth and bore it.

Shadow began checking on the Rogues, Storm and Wave had been badly shaken up by their ordeal when they attempted to save Knuckles, however they were slowly coming around thanks to the black hedgehog using his own _unique_ methods. These included shaking Wave by her shoulders until she opened her eyes, and slapping Storm hard across the face until he opened his. Jet, on the other hand, was in an even worse state, the stitches that had been used to seal the wound that he received during his fight against Eggman's battle bots some days ago had torn open causing a slow flow of blood to emit from it. Shadow scoffed at the way things were looking for him, for he had no desire what so ever to help this wounded 'weakling' as he viewed the green bird. He needn't have concerned himself with Jet's situation, Wave, who by now had noticed that her leader and friend was in a bad way, quickly rushed to his side. The purple swallow knelt down beside him and using one hand to support his head and the other to support his back, she held him close to her chest. Jet remained motionless, he was still breathing but Wave felt so upset and angry over what had occurred that she failed to notice. Feeling that hope for his survival was ebbing away with each passing moment Wave began to shed a few small tears, that was until she noticed out of the corner of her eye a slight movement of Jet's feathered left arm. Along with this movement there came a mumbled groan of pain, slowly he opened his eyes and gazed upon the familiar form Wave holding him tightly against herself. The swallow had her eyes closed as if in some sort of silent prayer, however, she quickly opened them in a flash when she heard a familiar voice. She had hoped that he would utter words of gratefulness but instead it was the usual cocky kind of speech craft that she had heard all too often.

"Wave, um… this is a little embarrassing… don't you think".

The purple swallow instantly dropped him to the metal floor causing his head to impact against it, clutching the back of his head in his hands he suddenly glare at his comrade who had once shown sadness and comfort towards him now had a look of anger etched across her face.

"What was that for?".

"Humph, I thought you were going to die in my arms, I was so relieved when you awakened but it sure didn't take long for you to go back to your old ungrateful self", remarked Wave who had now stood up off the floor and turned away from him.

"I was not being ungrateful, I just didn't expect to wake up and find myself in such a position. I'm truly sorry if I offended you". The girl just shook her head and turned around to face him as he laid sitting upright on the floor, without giving it a second thought Wave offered him her hand to which he gladly accepted.

Knuckles slowly and painfully opened his eyes, his vision at first seemed blurry and his wounded shoulder throbbed with a sharp pain. Clutching his shoulder as tightly as possible with his right hand and using his left to push himself off the metal floor he stared down at the strange object lying close to his position, at first his vision was impaired by the pain in his shoulder but slowly it became more focused and he was able to see the object more clearly. It turned out this was no object, it was a person, Rouge to be exact. At first the echidna's mind did not fully register the scene in front of him but suddenly, as if a light had been switched on in the dark void of his mind, he rushed towards her, knelt down beside her and held the batgirl in his powerful arms.

"Rouge… Rouge babe… please wake up", came the panicked comment from the echidna.

There was no reply. At first Knuckles's mind began to conceive the terrible thought that he might have been too late to save her, but soon felt a strong sense of relief when he noticed that she was still breathing. It was slow and felt quite weak but nevertheless it was a sign that she still lived. Gently, Knuckles wrapped the girl in his arms and held her head close to his chest, her white furred arms hung limp at her sides and she felt as delicate as glass to the touch but Knuckles held her in the same gentle way that a newborn would be held by its mother. He could feel the slow beat of her heart, so wonderful was the feeling in fact that the pain that he felt within him seemed to disappear entirely. He placed one of his powerful white gloves against her left cheek and looked lovingly at her face. It was so full of purity and beauty that he could not help but smile as small glittering tears rolled down his cheeks and onto her soft fur, Rouge's eyes remained closed but no matter how long it took Knuckles would not forsake her. All the times she had made fun of him and driven him to distraction, now that all seemed so distant. The times when he had been rude and arrogant towards her, now that seemed so pathetic and he felt a great sense of guilt well up inside of him. He wished he could apologise now since he had refused to do so back then, but above all, he wished he could see her mischievous smile one last time. That sly and seductive facial expression of hers had always made him go weak in the knees, even though he could not bring himself to tell her that. But what did all these feeling mean to him, as he held her lovingly in his arms he felt his heart ache as it longed for her to wake up, he knew that he had to say something to her, even if she couldn't hear him, he knew he had to say what must be said. Still shedding tears, he began to whisper into her ear…

"Rouge… I don't know if you can hear me… but if can… I just want to say that… I'm sorry for being such an arrogant bastard towards you in the past… and I hope that… you can forgive me. But there is… something else that I feel I must say, I… I love you".

There was still no response. Clasping her tightly against his chest, the red echidna placed his head gently on top of hers and slowly rocked back and forth on the floor. As he felt his heart ache even more than it did before, his eyes suddenly went wide with shock as he heard faint words being directed towards him…

"What was that… you said about… wanting to… apologise to me for being… an arrogant bastard", came the weak comment followed by a faint chuckle.

"ROUGE!", shouted Knuckles with great joy as tightened his grip around the batgirl, so much so that she used whatever strength remained within her to try and push herself away. Quickly realizing that he was causing her great discomfort, Knuckles released his grip, "I'm sorry Rouge, it was just that… I almost thought I lost you".

"Humph, I don't go down that easily", she retorted with a sly smile.

"And besides, did I hear three strange little words come out of that big mouth of yours". She then followed up her remark by shooting the red echidna with the strange seductive smile that always made his heart flutter.

"I… I guess you heard all of that, right?", came the shy and somewhat timid response that was most unusual for the echidna.

Rouge just wrapped her arms around his neck and leaned in closer to him, so much so in fact that their noses almost touched. "Oh you bet I heard everything, just because I was out cold it doesn't mean that my perceptive ears don't work", she said smiling at him.

"Is it true what you said?".

"Is what true?", came the slightly confused reply.

"Is it true that you love me?".

Knuckles just gave her a mischievous smile, quickly wrapped his arms round her and gave her the most passionate kiss on her luscious lips that he ever felt was possible to give to someone so dear to him. "Does that answer your question, gorgeous", came the romantic but somewhat cocky reply. Rouge did not say anything in return, instead she embraced him with her own impassioned kiss and soon enough the two of them were lost in thoughts of romantic bliss. Remaining glued to each other, the two of them were oblivious to what was going on around them. That was until Sonic decided to interrupt.

"Pardon me for intruding, you two can play doctors and nurses later, now if you don't mind, we have to go get Amy all right".

At first it appeared as if the lovers had not heard him, but it soon became apparent that they had when they both mutually broke off their embrace and helped each other to stand. Knuckles turned to Sonic with a stern look on his face…

"You're right Sonic, lets get the girl then get the hell outta here before Eggman causes some more dilemmas for us all".

Taking Rouge's hand in his own, Knuckles followed Sonic and the others as they steadily walked, or in some cases limped, their way towards the twin metal doors. The hole that Shadow had created was large enough for all of them to get through, Sonic, Tails, Shadow and Storm went through without a problem whilst Knuckles, suddenly displaying the personality of a true gentleman, aided his batgirl lover through the large opening with as much care and gentleness as possible. Jet also tried the same approach, however, Wave was not in the least bit interested in being treated like a pathetic princess, to her this was a deep insult to her pride. The green bird was a bit frustrated that she had spurned his willingness to offer her assistance, but in the end he decided that it would be best if he remained silent on the matter.

The room into which they entered remained dark and eerie, the slightest noise, even made by the quietest footsteps, echoed throughout the room. The light from the previous room shone behind them and reflected the metallic surfaces of some of the mechanical contraptions that lay silent and possibly unused within, Tails felt a wave of curiosity peak within him and so decided to check out the object that could just be made out in the dim light. The light that was available proved to be drastically insufficient in order to see clearly what the hell it truly was, Tails removed the glove from his right hand and placed it upon the surface. It felt cold and dry, metallic for the most part but as he dragged his hand further along the object he could also feel the smooth surface of glass. Placing his face directly against the glass, the little fox tried desperately to get a glimpse of what lay within, unfortunately there was not enough light but as he backed away Tails felt certain that he saw something inside. But whatever it was, he could not tell.

"Tails, get over here I need you to help me free Amy", shouted Sonic.

"Yea, um… I'm coming", came the reply. Tails's chain of thought as to what might be inside the container had been interrupted, however, he would see to that later, right now he had more pressing matters to attend to.

Sonic tried his best to wake the pink hedgehog from her unconscious state, but to no avail.

"Amy, Amy wake up. Come on girl wake up".

"Its no use Sonic, she's out cold".

"Well think of something you two, we can't leave her hanging there like a piece of meat", retorted Knuckles in a state of frustration.

"Chill Knuckles, I have and idea", the blue blur turned to face his little brother, "Tails, find something you can use to pick the locks on the shackles, then fly to the top of the girder and release her".

Tails nodded in reply to the orders but quickly realised that he had nothing on him that could be used as a makeshift lock pick, but he had an idea who might.

"Wave, do you have anything that I could use?". The swallow began searching through her pockets to find anything of use, her facial expressions indicated to the young Kitsune that he might be out of luck. However he soon beamed with delight when she pulled a thin piece of wire from her left trouser pocket and handed it to him. Taking to the air, Tails landed on top of the girder and began to pick the locks. Sonic stood underneath Amy, ready to catch her when Tails would release her from bondage. It took forever and patience was not one of Sonic's virtues. The lack of light severely hindered Tails's attempts to free her but succeed he did… eventually, Amy fell into Sonic's arms and he laid her down gently upon the cold surface of the metal floor. Stroking her hair and face as gently as a mother would stroke the skin of a newborn; Sonic supported her head and held her close to his chest. The others began to gather round, even Shadow, whom many would view as being quite cold hearted, joined the circle of onlookers around the two hedgehogs.

"Hey, what's that on her arm?", enquired Rouge.

Kneeling down next to the pink hedgehog, Rouge took hold of Amy's left arm and lifted it closer to her eyes. The light was dim but it was enough to make out the appearance of deep cut from her elbow stretching half way down her arm, the wound had clotted due to the dry blood forming a scab over it but nevertheless it was apparent that if it was not seen to as soon a could be then the chances of infection were high.

Turning her head to face Sonic, who was still clutching hold of Amy like she was the last person alive, she began to speak with concern…

"Sonic, we need to get her to the surface and get her safely to Tails's workshop or else this wound to her arm will soon get infected".

Sonic looked at Rouge and nodded in agreement, he then glanced over Amy's face and her other arm…

"It's strange, there are no other wounds on her body, except that one", came the confused comment as he turned away from Amy to face Rouge and then Tails in turn, as if hoping that they would understand why that was the case. But both of them just looked dumbfounded.

As the three of them began to ponder over what had happened to her and more importantly why, their thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of groggy moans. Amy had begun to awaken.

Slowly she opened one eye and then the other, her vision was blurry but once it had properly focused and the image of her hero/sweetheart had become clear, Amy threw her arms around Sonic and squeezed him in her notorious vice-like grip for which she was famous for when giving out hugs. Sonic immediately tried to struggle free but Amy's hold on him was like that of a python, the more the victim struggles then the tighter the grip becomes. Eventually the blue blur was able to escape and bring her back to her senses.

"Whoa, hold it Ames, now that we've got you we must get out of here before Eggman shows up".

Amy's eyes went wide with fear at the mention of that name, "WHAT!, Where are we, what's going on, all I remember is being attacked by some weird creatures then waking up to find myself in your arms".

"Were they human-like creatures but with no facial features, and were there three of them by chance?", enquired Knuckles who appeared out of the darkness in front of the fearful and confused hedgehog.

Amy replied with great shock etched into her voice, "YES!, how the hell did you know?".

Knuckles just smiled, "We had a bit of a run in with them too, but we'll tell you about that when we get out of here".

Sonic helped Amy to stand and began to lead her back the way they had come. The team had only taken a few steps when Shadow motioned for them to stop, remaining still they suddenly became aware of the sound of slow rhythmic clapping from somewhere within the room. The sound increased as it got ever closer towards them, but it was so dark they could not see from where it was originating. Then to their great dread, the sound of a familiar foe was heard.

"Well… well… well", uttered Eggman between each clap, "I did not expect any of you to make it this far but to be honest, I'm very glad you have".

"SHOW YOURSELF YOU COWARDLY BASTARD!", bellowed Knuckles.

"I see that your anger was not dealt a blow in the battle, unlike other parts of your anatomy knucklehead", remarked the doctor in a somewhat mocking tone of voice.

"Face it Eggman, you've lost…again!. Amy was your trump card to keep us here, but now that she is free there is no reason for us to remain any longer!", shouted Tails across the room failing to locate his foe's position.

"Oh, but there is my friend".

"And what is that, Eggman. You said once we passed your second challenge we were free to get Amy and leave", remarked Sonic.

"Wrong my friend, I said that if you succeeded then you could have your teammate back. I have kept my word, but in order to be free from my fortress you must pass my third and final challenge.

"And what is that?".

"Allow me to show you, my friend", came the dry and raspy remark from the overweight doctor followed by nerve-shaking maniacal laughter.

The room suddenly became ablaze with light, so bright was it in fact that many of the Sonic team had to shield their eyes. So used to the previous darkness of the room had they been, that this bright light brought both pain and tears to their eyes. After a few minutes they could feel their eyes adjusting to the light and now it suddenly became aware to them all that the room they were in was in fact Eggman's main experimental laboratory. It was plain to see that this was where the main experiments into bio-weapons had taken place. Cages full of dead animals, some normal creatures of the wild and others warped to a new state of monstrosity forever beyond recognition, were packed upon metallic shelving units. Some still had strange coloured tubes sticking in their flesh, but luckily no longer administering whatever cruel concoction of strange drugs that they had once been fed with. On the far side of the room lay many operating tables and chairs, around them were positioned lights, robotic arms holding blades and needles, and strange cylinders that sill held whatever colourful liquid they had been filled with. Memories suddenly came flooding back into Shadow's mind, he could feel the rage build up within him and he could see the past images of torture and excruciating pain that had been inflicted upon him in this very room. Shadow collapsed to the floor with his head in his hands, Rouge left Knuckles's side and rushed over to him.

"Brings back such wonderful memories does it, Shadow?", mocked the doctor, who now appeared standing on a small balcony attached to the left side wall of the room. He was much closer than anyone had previously thought.

"What the hell have you done, Eggman!", barked Amy as she pointed towards the cages full of dead animals.

"Whilst you were taking time out relaxing, I decided to not remain idle. I felt that it would be best if I disappeared for a while in order to further my research, the data that I had collected from Shadow many years ago proved sufficient in order to develop certain experimental drugs. Unfortunately I required certain test subjects in order for the drugs to be administered, some died on the spot and others _changed_ in such bizarre ways. But they were all failures, as you can see".

Amy and Rouge felt sickened at the sight that they bore witness too, Amy even started to shed tears as she imagined the pain and misery the poor creatures must have gone through before their suffering finally ended.

"But enough about the past, what you are about to see is the result of everything. All the work and effort I have made, all the pain that we all have shared throughout these past few days, your little pink companion's kidnapping, all of it… has led to this final moment that will result in my glorious triumph!", shouted Eggman as he raised his hands towards the ceiling.

"What the fuck are you on about now", mocked Sonic.

"Quiet hedgehog, I will reveal all".

The doctor revealed a small handheld electrical device and immediately activated it. The ground began to vibrate as seven strange containers were mechanically maneuvered into their correct positions, the Sonic team huddled together to form one mass of bodies as they braced themselves for whatever the doctor planned to unleash upon them. The seven containers were, at first, positioned lying down in a row, but were quickly positioned upright at a ninety degree angle situated in front the huddled group. Tails quickly realised what the object was that he had come across before, these metal and glass objects were no mere containers. They were cryo-stasis tubes. The team was as yet unaware as to what potential horrors were contained within, the thick white steam or whatever fumes they were made it impossible to clearly see what exactly was inside. Shadow let out a low growl at the sight; he remembered that he himself had once been locked within one of those metal and glass prisons, he knew that such devices could keep whatever they were designed to contain safe, secure and well energized for many years if not longer. The computers on the outside of each cryo-tube registered strong life signs as the electronics buzzed and whirled, multi-coloured lights flashed and hollow plastic tubes flooded strange liquids into certain sockets located at the top and mid section of the containers.

"You once asked me, my little foxy friend, what I meant by 'Awaken the devil within', now here is your answer", remarked the rotund doctor.

…………………………………………………………

**I do hope that you enjoyed reading this and I hope you feel that it wasn't rushed at all. My exams will end on the 20****th**** of May so when that happens I can dedicate my time to carrying on with this story, more fights are on the way and they will be better than the last**. **Please review**


	7. Know Thy Self PART 1

The first cryo-tube's glass seal became unlocked and folded open, spilling the thick fumes contained within into the atmosphere

**All exams have ended so now I can focus on completing this story as well as my other works. I'm having a major problem with writers block at the moment, I start off well and then suddenly my mind goes blank and from that point on it becomes impossible to write anything. That's why it has taken so damn long just to get this chapter finished. However I have struggled on and this is the result, so please enjoy my faithful readers and reviewers. **

**Chapter 7: Know Thy Self PART 1 **

The doctor motioned with his hand for the whole Sonic team to gaze upon what wonders would be unveiled before them, the first cryo-tube's glass seal was unlocked and folded open, spilling the thick fumes contained within into the atmosphere. Once the vapours had dissipated, a shocking sight greeted the leader of the Babylon Rogues. The thick fumes revealed a life form attached by various electrical harnesses to the inside of the container, both feathered legs hung limp whilst two feathered arms were folded over the creature's chest whilst the head hung limp from the neck partially obscuring the face. Hollow tubes flowing with strange liquids pumped into the flesh of the creature's limbs, chest and neck, it was a sight that both appalled and amazed Jet at the same time. Gazing in fascination at this thing in front of him the green bird couldn't believe what he was seeing; it appeared to be a bird almost exactly like himself but the only difference being that this bird's feathers were a dark charcoal color whilst his own were an emerald green pigment. Jet's eyes then became focused on the strange metallic item that was strapped around the bird's neck, it seemed like a dog collar but it glowed with a strange eerie red light.

"What the hell is this thing, Eggman", came a confused question from the Rogue leader who had not deviated his gaze from the sight in front of him.

There was no reply from the rotund mad man except a quick outburst of mocking laughter.

Suddenly the electronics on the cryo-tube ceased functioning, the strange noises that were once emitted were instantly silenced and the hollow tubes that until this point had remained embedded within the flesh, detached themselves and swung back and forth within the container as the last of the strange liquids oozed out on the floor. Then came the shocking moment. The head of the creature that had once hung limp suddenly reared up, both eyelids flashed open and two menacing dark brown eyes widened as this new creation slowly looked around its new surroundings. Finally settling on jet, the two eyes leered at him for some considerable time, almost as if he was what the creature was searching for all along. The metallic harnesses retracted and released the occupant thus allowing this new creation to haul itself out of the cryo-tube. Two black fingerless gloves grabbed hold of the sides of the glass seal and a powerful orange boot with purple flame icons attached to a long feathered leg emerged quickly followed by another until the entire body stood strong and upright in front of the group of onlookers.

"This, jet… is you", remarked the doctor.

Jet felt his mind begin to buckle under the strain of trying to contemplate just what the hell was going on, "_this cant be me, and yet this thing looks exactly like me… but it cant be it just cant_", he thought to himself.

"THIS IMPOSTER IS NOT ME!", spat Jet.

Eggman fully expected such a dramatic response from his feathered foe, he knew that explanations would be needed in order for his enemies to fully comprehend just what exactly they were facing. But he decided to put it off until the rest of the new _family_ had been introduced.

"Oh but it is you, my friend. Allow me to introduce… Kyros".

All members of the Sonic team, especially Jet, were at a loss for words. The name alone was enough to spark feelings of nervousness in some and all out fear in others. Kyros seemed to react to the name, whether he had been fed with certain information whilst he had been in cryostasis would be forever unknown to all except the doctor himself. The doppelganger began a slow approach towards Jet's position, the green bird showed signs of nervousness but he remained determined not to show fear in the face of this faker. Finally halting its advance with no more than a few inches between them, Kyros looked deep into his twin's eyes. Cold and foreboding brown ones met bright mischievous blue ones. For a few minutes the two of them leered at each other as if in some kind of psychological duel, either that or they were trying to gain a greater understanding of what made the other tick in order to expose fatal chinks in the armour when the opportunity presented itself. Eventually Kyros backed down, almost bored with playing the mind games he had chosen to start, he walked off towards the mad scientist's position and stood motionless underneath the metallic balcony.

"Now that first introductions have been made it is time for you all to meet the second member of my new _family_", remarked the gleeful doctor.

"_Family_", that was the word that now bore into the minds of all who stood before the second cryo-tube as it too began to open up and reveal its contents.

The glass seal opened up spreading the once contained thick fumes into the room, waving the fumes away with a mixture of anticipation and dread at what they would next witness. The Sonic team gazed at the new creature who, like Kyros, was attached to the inside of the container by electronic harnesses and had similar tubes imbedded in the flesh, however they too now ceased to flow with the mysterious cocktails of liquids and quickly detached themselves, spilling the contents onto the floor. All life in the machine ceased immediately and the once motionless body began to move. Wave moved forward in order to gain a better a view of what lay inside, but almost fell back in utter shock at what she saw. Whereas the first creature had been a male bird, this one was female. The female creature lifted her head up and leered at her twin. Where Kyros had at first been interested in looking at the surroundings which he now found himself in, this new figure seemed to almost know instinctively where she was, the way she reacted to her surroundings would've made anyone think that she somehow recognized everything she laid her eyes upon. Either that was the case, or else she was supremely confident about the situation she now found herself in. only she alone knew the truth. Standing in front of her audience, everyone, apart from Shadow, had to admit to themselves that she was incredibly beautiful to behold.

The female wore a pair of tight black leather jeans that were fully designed to show off her smooth and shapely legs, a pair of black boots and a very tight t-shirt that was designed to show off her assets to the best of her ability. Unlike her twin this female bird did not wear gloves of any kind, nor a bandanna, but instead wore a spiked bracelet on each arm. However, what were most appealing about her were her emerald green eyes. Jet, storm and even Sonic to some extent became somewhat entranced by the beautiful gems. The pigment of her feathers was also drastically different from that of her twin, whilst Wave's feathers were a nice shade of purple; her doppelgangers' were a deep and mysterious shade of sapphire blue. What was noticeable to all was the same metallic dog collar around her neck that Kyros wore around his. Like the first one that they had seen, this one similarly glowed with an eerie red light but what the exact purpose of this was no-one yet knew.

Eggman then turned to face wave's direction, although she herself was still preoccupied with visually studying her own doppelganger, "Allow me my dear to introduce… Riana".

At the mention of her name Riana shot a glance towards the doctor's position, but then slowly returned her gaze to face Wave directly. Slowly walking towards her twin's position, her shapely hips swayed from side to side and each footstep she took was as gentle and as silent as those made by a kitten. The closer her twin got to her, the more nervous Wave became until a point was reached whereby she refused to hold her ground and instead began to retreat back a few steps. Riana noticed the sudden change, a mischievous smile crept across her face, almost as if she fully expected her twin to react the way she did. She let out a low pitched laugh as she could almost taste her twin's fear in the atmosphere; this had the unexpected reaction of bringing Jet back to his senses although the same could not be said of Storm or Sonic, who still looked as if they were in a world of their own creation. As Riana came within a couple of feet from Wave, Jet stretched out his left arm in front of her to try and block her path, the purple swallow immediately stopped dead in her tracks when she realised what her leader was trying to do. Riana too halted immediately when she came face to face with a not too pleased male bird blocking her path, however she bade the matter no mind and instead turned her attentions away from Wave and directed them towards her opponent.

"I see you care for… this bitch", she said as her facial expression hinted at what could have possible been mistaken for as jealousy. Her tone of voice stunned everyone, especially Wave, for it sounded exactly like her own in every way. This was now one extra piece of evidence that helped compel everyone to believe that these creatures were exact copies of themselves, only with a much darker frame of mind.

"No matter, I sincerely hope that you and I will get to know one another very well indeed… in due time", came her second remark followed quickly by an outburst of somewhat childish laughter.

Jet was having none of it, normally he wouldn't have given a verbal reply to such comments, but for some reason he felt compelled to do so although he made sure that what he did have to say was blunt and straight to the point, "I doubt that", was his only reply.

Riana just gave him a mischievous wink before heading off to stand alongside Kyros. Storm managed to shrug off the spell that he now felt had been placed upon him and Sonic had been forced out of his daydreams by the ever protective figure of Amy who, determined not to let some tart mess with her hero's mind, began shaking him back to his senses. The rest of the cryo-tubes began to open simultaneously, whereas before when one of these contraptions opened up the fumes that were released had only clouded the view for a few moments, but now that they were being opened all at once, the fumes filled the entire room with a thick fog that made it impossible for anyone, even Eggman, to see anything. The fumes proved to be so thick that Amy, Rouge and Tails began choking due to the lack of access to air, however it did not take long for the fumes to dissipate into the atmosphere, it was then that the remaining team members came face to face with there own dark brethren.

Storm was the first to notice his own doppelganger steadily emerge from the confines of the cryo-tube and stand upright for all to see. Now Storm, as everyone was aware, was a very powerful bird, but his twin on the other hand now seemed to dwarf his size and strength in comparison. The creature that now stood before the group had no items of clothing on his person, save two. A pair of steel gauntlets had been placed over his arms, but the sheer size of these things left no doubt in anyone's minds that they along with his tremendous strength could and would do tremendous damage to anyone foolish enough to cross his path. The other was the familiar metal collar around his neck, everyone knew instantly that removing it would prove no challenge at all for him; however, the very moment his strong fingers even touched the collar the red glow that was being emitted became even brighter and began to irritate his flesh. He let out no howl of pain but it was plain to see from the expression on his face that he was in tremendous discomfort. Muscles bulged beneath the dark twin's feathers as the pain he was feeling made them contract, but the moment he released his grip on the collar the pain immediately ceased. The gigantic bird then shot a glare at the doctor, almost as if he was fully aware just who was responsible for his momentary discomfort.

"Come now Hektor, did you really think that I would let you wander freely to do as you wish, without any form of control over you?. You may be strong but you and your twin both share the same pathetic mentality", came a gruff response from the balcony.

Hektor's only response was a low, gruff snort as his nostrils bulged then contracted thus making his point clear to his master that he was not pleased at being treated in such a way. Piercing yellow eyes leered across the room before setting themselves upon Storm himself. The grey albatross similarly glared at his dark twin, looking at him up and down Storm began to wonder how it would even be possible to take down such an enemy if he was forced to confront him, brute strength was what he usually relied upon to beat challengers in a fight but something told him that this time that would not be the case. His own white and grey feathers began to ruffle due to nervousness, but his twin on the other hand had no such qualms, his dark maroon coloured feathers remained still save for the patch of grey ones on his bulky chest that expanded then contracted as he drew in huge breaths of air. After a few minutes, the giant walked away towards the other members of his dark and twisted kind.

The next to appear was another female figure, both Amy and Rouge braced themselves for what they believed to be the inevitable. Rouge felt a great sense of relief, for the time being at least, when she noticed that this female had no wings, Amy on the other hand felt a deep sense of fear sweep over her when she looked upon the slender figure a golden furred hedgehog dressed in a pair of tight jeans with thin metal chains rocking back and forth as she walked, brown leather fingerless gloves and a long black leather jacket that almost seemed to drag along the surface of the floor. However, Amy's feelings of fear were suddenly replaced by a fiery rage of anger when the stunning female strode gracefully towards not her… but Sonic. Not waiting to see what would transpire between the two of them, Amy extended her right hand to which her Piko Piko hammer instantly materialised within it. Razing the hammer high above her head she charged towards her fake twin with the aim of knocking that pretty head of hers right off her shoulders. Unfortunately it did not go as well as she had hoped it would. Bringing the hammer down towards her enemy, the golden female hedgehog bizarrely remained calm at the sight of this enraged figure bearing down upon her with malice in her eyes, a sly smile swept across her face as she herself extended her right hand out to her side thus causing her own weapon to materialise within it. Amy brought the hammer down upon her foe but was slightly taken aback when the image of a powerful war scythe greeted her. Using just a bare fraction of her strength, the golden hedgehog forced Amy to the ground, her hammer instantly disintegrating as she fell. The female stood over Amy, her smile had now transformed into a mischievous grin, Amy glared back at her but before she could get up to face her doppelganger a large brown shoe pressed against her chest thus causing her to remain pinned to the floor. The blade of the scythe gracefully stroked the naked flesh of her cheek and Amy's eyes once filled with seething rage now filled with fear once again, but she needn't have concerned herself for Sonic, having sensed that harm was about to come to her, rushed towards the golden furred stranger. Grabbing the weapon from her hands, Sonic pushed her away from his team mate before tossing the weapon aside, readying herself for a confrontation, the female figure was only halted by the orders of her master.

"Alina enough of this foolishness, your chance will come again soon enough. Now calm yourself and stand alongside the others, for I have yet to introduce the rest of the family", barked Eggman whose once apparent joy at seeing the small scale fight had now worn away to nothing.

Sonic eyed her with suspicion as she walked away just in case she decided to ignore her master's orders, however, it seemed rather unlikely that she would do so since she herself wore one of Eggman's electronic collars around her neck. Quickly turning his attention to Amy, he offered her his hand to which she gladly accepted and so pulled her up off the cold floor. Amy was most grateful but her eyes were looking away from Sonic for a change and instead focused on her new nemesis, "_That slut will pay; I swear I'll grind her into the earth for this_", she thought to herself as she mentally seethed with rage.

As Sonic tried his best to calm Amy down his attention had become deviated from the next pair of strangers. Knuckles and Rouge stood ready in battle positions and eagerly awaited the appearance of the next newcomers, but even they were not prepared for what, rather _who_, they were to be next introduced to. Before them stood a pair that one would assume would be easily recognisable based on appearance alone, however the personalities of the couple were completely alien to everyone. Many knew that recently, Knuckles's feelings for Rouge had grown tremendously and it was the same for her, but in the doppelgangers who now stood before them no-one could see any sign of mutual affection, only rage, hate and selfishness. Knuckles and Rouge recognised these traits for they themselves had always fought an internal struggle between sacrificing their own petty interests for the sake of others, and embracing the darkness that would rear its ugly head at unexpected moments in time.

Rouge placed her delicate hand inside Knuckle's powerful to which his response was to hold her close to his torso, the facial expressions that now appeared on the twins were bizarre to say the least. At first they looked appalled and then sickened by what they were witnessing, but Rouge, who could read facial expressions ten times better than her lover could, could see that whilst they may have looked uncomfortable with the situation, they were in fact trying their utmost to understand what they were doing and more importantly… why. Knuckles did not deviate his gaze from the fakers but as he did so he failed to notice Rouge snuggling up ever closer to him, her actions began to frustrate her lover's twin, so much so in fact that the batgirl felt sure that at any moment his frustration would boil over into all out rage. And it did so. The echidna's twin, a white furred being with a pair of red trainers with yellow zigzag patterns on them, began to storm towards the embraced lovers. Sickening anger flared like a raging fire within his dark brown eyes, but Knuckles remained unphased. Knuckles bade Rouge stand behind as he brought his threatening gloves up towards his face, standing in a position similar to that of a champion boxer, the red furred echidna prepared to battle it out with his dark twin. The white echidna then prepared to bring his own weapons to bear. He revealed a pair of spiked gloves that were practically similar to Knuckles' own except that these gloves had two sharpened steel blades attached to each one. Approximately two inches thick and about eight to ten inches in length they presented a most lethal obstacle to get past; he then held them out to either side of him and broke into a furious charge. Knuckles was a little unnerved by the act, but being the annoyingly prideful creature that he is, he was determined not to show it in front of Rouge nor anyone else for that matter.

Waiting until the last moment, Knuckles lowered his head to the left just enough to avoid a lethal spiked punch to the face, he then counterattacked by upper cutting his foe and delivering a mighty punch to the chin thus sending his nemesis hurtling to the ground a few feet away. Unfortunately he did not stay down for long, rising off the ground the white furred fiend launched himself at Knuckles and pinned him to he floor. For a few minutes the pair of them traded punch after mighty punch against one another, but in the end neither of them could gain the upper hand over the other. It was as if they both recognised each other battle strength and techniques but could do nothing to exploit those ever important chinks in their enemies' armour, simply because when either one of them discovered a weak spot then their opponent would also discover one. It was at this moment that both opponents realised that they shared a common characteristic… they were both determined not to expose any weak spots to their enemy. The white furred doppelganger made a grab for Knuckles' wounded shoulder, but the red echidna brushed his gloved hand aside and in return, threw a punch against the face of his nemesis. Backing his head away as quickly as possible, the white echidna's reaction was just not quick enough to avoid the inevitable contact, the sharp spikes of Knuckles's right glove dug into the area of naked flesh just below his foe's left eye. As a small spray of blood splashed the surface of the steel floor, a gasp of both pain and annoyance was heard from the wounded combatant. Quickly rising to his feet Knuckles braced himself for the ferocious counter attack. The white furred fiend slowly rose up and faced his opponent, he could feel the stinging pain from the inflicted wound career across his face but this only served to increase his anger and lust for vengeance, however, before he could even make a move against his enemy he collapsed to the floor in agony. The collar around his neck glowed an eerie blood red colour as the agonising feeling of burning pain swept across his entire body, Knuckles was not in the least bit concerned about his foe's plight and so turned to walk back to where Rouge was standing, thus leaving the white echidna writhing in pain on the floor.

"YOU… WILL… FUCKING REGRET… THIS… AHHH… YOU HEAR ME… I'LL MAKE YOU… PAY… I… SWEAR I'LL… AHHH… MAKE YOU… PAY!", screamed the voice of vengeance yet to come. Knuckles just waved off the threat with a swift movement of his left glove and continued walking.

Within a matter of agonising minutes the pain instantly disappeared, much to the victim's relief. The mad doctor had planned that all would be subjected to trial by combat but now was simply not the time for such foolishness, he thus hoped that the wound to his creation's face wound serve as a worthy reminder of his place in his master's grand scheme.

"RIJAK!", bellowed the rotund doctor, "If you plan to continue this foolish endeavour before such a time that I deem perfect, you shall again feel such tremendous pain. Do I make myself clear?".

"Yes… my master", was the echidna's only response to the threat.

"Excellent, now join the ranks of your brethren and do not concern yourself further with this nuisance… for you shall soon have your revenge", came the reply.

Rijak turned towards his fellow creations and began the slow, painful march towards their position. Even though the pain had gone completely, it had left him a little worse for ware. As he marched passed the Sonic team he shot a menacing glance towards Knuckles, "_In due time you bastard, in due time_", was the thought that ran through his mind over and over again, the response from his red furred twin was an insulting gesture but he was determined not to let something so petty phase his pride anymore than it had been already.

Knuckles held Rouge tightly but did not take his eyes off of his dark twin until he had satisfied himself within his own mind that the creature posed no more threat to him at this moment in time. "_Rijak, I look forward to our next meeting… then I'll grind you into the earth. I swear it_", was the thought that embedded itself in his psyche.

Finally wasting enough time watching his doppelganger, Knuckles turned his attention to Rouge's own dark twin. The female bat that stood in front of the pair wore practically the same outfit, apart from a few subtle differences. The only differences to the outfit that this new batgirl wore compared to the one worn by Rouge herself, was that where Rouge wore Pink hearts, her dark twin wore red ones with the image of a small sword or possibly a dagger cutting it in half and what appeared to be small tear drops of blood emanating from the wounded heart. For a long while the white bat stared inquisitively at her red furred twin, as if trying to acquire some greater understanding of how she could handle herself in battle, but it was to no avail. Rouge concluded that, having watched the small fight between Knuckles and Rijak, her own battle against her own dark twin would be just as difficult. But perhaps, she hoped, that an opportunity would reveal itself to her at which point she would exploit it for all it was worth and bring her foe down. In time, she would soon find out.

"Ah Rouge my dear, please do not waste your time trying to mentally outmanoeuvre your twin… for Veronica here knows all your mischievous tricks", commented the doctor.

Rouge did not give any reply but merely watched as her dark twin gave her a mischievous wink before disappearing off to join the others.

Every cryo-tube had now revealed its dark secret to everyone, all except one. The final container had refused to open and reveal its contents but Tails had been wise enough to guess just what was inside. The thick fumes within hid the occupant from everyone's view, but Tails braced himself for the inevitable. Suddenly a red gloved fist punched its way through the glass seal of the container to which everyone's response was to gasp in horror, another and then another punch broke through the thin glass until it was completely shattered. There was at first no movement at all from the occupant, Tails wearily crept forward until, to his utter shock, he was leapt upon by as small jet black furred fox that leapt out of the container. Tails cowered in fear as he gazed upon the face of his twin… for to Tails it was like staring at a physical mirror image of himself. The dark twin's blood red eyes seemed to penetrate his yellow combatant's very soul, which only fuelled the fear now growing within in. The black fox repeatedly struck at Tails again and again until a small trickle of blood began to pour from his nose, there was no hint of mercy in this fox's eyes, only rage and madness. Tails knew that he had to fight back or else he would be beaten senseless, mustering all of his strength into one tightened fist, he struck back against his foe. The mad fox had not even conceived that his victim would be brave enough to fight back, but that thought quickly vanished when the full force of Tails' punch impacted fiercely against the left side of his furry face. The black fox landed on his back and Tails took the opportunity to make sure he stayed down, now it was his turn to go on the offensive. Tails leapt at his dark twin and threw punch after mighty punch against him, Sonic, Knuckles and the others had, at first, considered getting stuck in and aiding their comrade, but after seeing Tails fight back they decided that this fight was his and his alone to win or lose. Unfortunately it did not end the way Tails had hoped that it would. His foe managed to gain the upper hand and once again threw him onto his back, towering over his Tails could see the madness and sheer evil in his twin's eyes, the black fox then stooped down and grabbed Tails by his little neck and held him high in the air. Tails gripped his twin's hand and tried his hardest to break free, but the lack of oxygen made his strength wane.

"TAILS!", cried Sonic as he looked helplessly upon the situation.

"Let my brother go, or I'll…"

"Or you'll what, blue boy. Do not try and threaten me or I'll break this waste of fur's scrawny neck".

Sonic's face hardened with rage, he wanted to help but he knew that id he took so much as a single step towards the pair, then Tails' life would be forfeit. He had never felt so helpless in his life, but relief came quickly when the not so pleased voice of Eggman intervened.

"CAIN!", he barked, "Release him immediately".

Cain's response was to shoot a menacing leer at Eggman, he may have been cruel but his mentality was still that of a twelve year old child and as everyone knows, children at that age do not like being told what they must and mustn't do.

"OBEY ME!", screeched Eggman.

The black furred fox continued to ignore his master's order, that was until he noticed the collar around his neck begin to glow. Somehow Cain seemed to know what this would entail and so quickly released his weak twin from his grip, Tails collapsed to the floor in a weakened state he tried desperately to fill his lungs with as much air as they would allow him.

"Next time kid, you wont be so lucky", replied Cain. The black fox then proceeded to kick the already weakened Tails in the gut as hard as he possibly could before storming off in a furious tantrum to join the others. Tails gripped his chest in agony and a small trickle of blood seeped from his mouth, his blue brother quickly rushed to his side, threw his right arm around his little waist and proceeded to aid him to stand up. It proved to be quite painful but the fox cub bore the pain as best he could, Sonic's mind seethed with fury at what had occurred. He felt such anger towards the monster that had hurt his best friend, but his thoughts on the matter quickly turned to those of guilt. Sonic had made a promise to himself many years ago that he would always be there to help Tails whenever he needed him, but watching what had happened and feeling a great sense of helplessness over it, made him feel that he had failed to keep his promise to the boy.

"I'm so sorry lil bro that, that I wasn't there to help you when you needed me the most", came Sonic's somewhat depressed remark.

Tails just gave the blue hedgehog a playful wink in order to try and indicate to Sonic that he understood why he was unable to come to his aid, and to forgive him. However, Sonic could plainly see that the fox was still in a fair amount of pain and this, despite his brother's attempts to persuade him otherwise, made him feel even more guilty and ashamed of his actions… or rather lack thereof. As the two of them made their way back to the rest of the group, Tails was almost crushed by the sudden bear-hug embrace that Amy gave him. Small tears filled her eyes as she continued to cuddle the child, but these were not just tears of sympathy, they were tears of anger and hatred for she longed to vent out these emotions against the bastard that had hurt her friend. Knuckles too showed a fair amount of sympathy for the plight of the boy, but unlike Amy his response was to congratulate Tails for not giving into fear, and instead to fight back with great courage and determination. Even Wave, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, gave him the standard thumbs up sign thus indicating that she too respected his determination not to give in so easily to his nemesis.

Sonic's patience with Eggman was drastically waning thin, but he had known Eggman long enough to know that the mad doctor only left the best for last, for there was still his as well as Shadow's dark twin left to be introduced.

"You seem to be two cards short of a full deck, Eggy", retorted Sonic.

"I thought that since yours and Shadow's dark twins are my prized creation, I thought that they warranted special introductions", replied the doctor followed by menacing laughter.

Shadow manoeuvred himself so he was positioned next to Sonic, both of them knew that if Eggman had gone to all this trouble just to introduce _their_ doppelgangers, then they would definitely present a difficult challenge to overcome. They had no idea how correct that assumption would prove to be.

…………………………………………………………

**I had originally planned to introduce Sonic and Shadow's dark twins in this chapter, but I thought since the pair are going to be the darkest of the lot I thought that they deserved a chapter dedicated to them. Plus it adds to the suspense. The next chapter will contain a battle between ****the two hedgehogs and their evil twins, but it will not be on the same scale as the battles that will take place from chapter 9 onwards. Once again I apologise to all for not posting this up sooner, I plan to have the next chapter up and ready by the 3****rd**** of June. If it is not then please do not hesitate to email me and tell me to get my ass in gear. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and don't forget to review. **


	8. Know Thy Self PART 2

Chapter 8: Know Thy Self PART 2

**I apologise to all readers and reviewers that this has taken so long to post up but I have had many distractions that have taken my concentration away from this story. Since it has taken me a long time I thought that I would split this chapter in half so that you would not have to keep waiting for a greater length of time. Anyway enjoy and please review.**

**Chapter 8: Know Thy Self PART 2**

Both hedgehogs felt the anticipation rise within them, but this was the only feeling that they had in common. Sonic wanted to look his doppelganger in the eye and try to get a glimpse of the mentality of his foe in order to gain a greater understanding of him and thus bring him down with ease, but he knew perfectly well that it would not be easy. He had witnessed how the others faired against _their_ twins and to say that he was nervous would have summed up his own mentality perfectly, he had watched how his echidna friend battled it out with great difficulty and only just managed to clench a extremely close victory although technically it was a draw since both combatants were perfectly willing to go at it for hours on end and only the intervention of Eggman stopped the fight proceeding any further. Then came the most painful of memories he had had in a long time, the image of his little brother in the grip of evil. Anger now took the place of nervousness as he saw the scene play out again in his mind, and just like before… he felt helpless to aid his friend. In a bizarre way, although it sickened him to just think such a thought, he felt he had to mentally thank the doctor for intervening at the right moment and thus stop the madness from going any further. Looking to his left, Sonic saw his ebony counterpart positioned in such a stance that it looked as if he was bracing himself for the inevitable.

Shadow did not turn to meet Sonic's gaze, instead he stood still, eyes gazing into the nothingness. It was as if he was looking at something… but seeing nothing. What was he thinking? Sonic wandered, was he thinking up a strategy of how to deal with the threat if and when it showed itself? Or how difficult it was going to be? Sonic turned his focus away from him when thoughts more in tune with Shadow's own mentality entered his mind, thoughts along the lines of "A chaos spear here, a chaos blast there and the fight will be over before it has even begun" filled his head. Sonic closed his eyes as if he was simply unwilling to believe that Shadow would be stupid enough to think such thoughts. He had no idea just how close to correct his thoughts were. A toothy smirk crossed the black hedgehog's face and he folded his arms in apparent frustration that events were moving so slowly.

"I take it that you think that you'll beat your doppelganger without breaking so much as a sweat?", asked Sonic in an attempt to try and figure out what Shadow was planning… if anything.

Shadow's grin immediately disappeared once Sonic had finished speaking. Slowly he twisted his head round to face his blue counterpart, "I am the ultimate life form and the greatest weapon of warfare…", he then turned back to stare into nothingness, "… This faker will stand no chance whatsoever against me". Such an arrogant comment came as no surprise to Sonic, but what was surprising however was that the derogatory term of 'faker' had, for once, not been directed at him.

"Just watch yourself", commented Sonic as he displayed a mild form of concern. However, no response was uttered from his counterpart.

Both hedgehogs were now growing impatient of waiting for Eggman to show his trump cards, Sonic had been bracing himself for a sudden attack which never came but now his thoughts focused on getting answers to the many questions that were running through his mind. The least of which was why Eggman had gone to all this trouble to create these so called 'clones', but he wondered that if these were exact copies of each team member then why did they differ in fur and skin colour from the originals and why was their mentality so warped and twisted that they displayed acts of cruelty and madness to everyone around them. They looked nothing like his teammates, acted nothing like them… but yet something told Sonic deep down in his psyche that they were them. Sonic had had enough, he wanted answers and he wanted them now.

"Okay Eggman you've had your fun, now I demand answers. You claim that these are our 'twins' but they are nothing like us".

The doctor was at first hesitant to reply, now he felt was not the right time to explain all to his enemies. That time would come later. He crossed his arms and pondered to himself what he was going to say in response to the blue rat's question, that was until Sonic interrupted his chain of thought.

"Yo Eggman, I'm waiting", commented Sonic who began folding his arms across his chest and lightly tapping his foot on the metal floor thus fully demonstrating his impatience to all.

"Such questions will be answered in due time my little blue friend, but now is not the correct moment. You and Shadow seem to be growing quite impatient, so allow me to introduce to you both… your brothers", remarked the doctor quickly followed by a sneering grin.

Sonic clenched his fists in anger and Shadow's face hardened with frustration as the scientist began to mock them with eerie laughter. Suddenly a low but powerful rumbling sound was emitted beneath their feet. Steadily it grew louder and thus more powerful causing machinery to shake and collapse to the ground with thunderous crashes, the cages full of the dead failed experiments to hurtle to the floor and spill the already decaying remains of their occupants across the metallic surface and glass beakers and other delicate containers to fall from their positions and shatter on the floor. As the rumbling became ever more powerful, the cryo-tubes that had once held the doppelgangers of the other members of the team began to shift positions across the room. They were not moved at random, their movements were electronically coordinated as part of Eggman's great scheme. The rumbling continued and suddenly a large section of the metallic floor split in two, Sonic and Shadow managed to jump back to a safe position just before they fell into the darkness. Picking themselves up from the ground, both hedgehogs' eyes rested upon the sight that greeted them. Before them stood a contraption the likes of which even Tails struggled to figure out what it might be, on the doctor knew the answer and soon it would become painfully clear to the blue and black hedgehogs as well.

A large electronic device stood upright at a ninety degree angle, its towering presence both dwarfing and intimidating those figures who stood around its base. The noise that it emitted was unlike anything the Sonic team had ever heard before, it was like hearing the sounds of sadness, anger, laughter and madness all rolled into one nerve-quivering pitch. The multi-colored lights flickered with abundant fury, one shutting off but then quickly being replaced by another sparking into life. Attached to the back of the machine were held two enormous cylinders, each contained the same strange liquid but what was most gruesome about its appearance was the colour. Amy and Rouge, along with their doppelgangers, both averted their eyes from the sight in apparent disgust. The vomit coloured liquid at first remained still within the tanks but then, from an unknown source within the machine, heat was applied to the containers and soon large bubbles began to form on the surface. They soon burst thus splattering the once clear parts of the tanks, that had not been touched by the limited levels of the liquid within them, with the thick treacle-like liquid. Six hollow tubes, three from each tank, suddenly filled with the strange liquid and flowed from their prospective cylinders into two large steel containers, one on either side of the giant machine. They almost appeared to be metallic coffins standing on end, the exceptions being that they each had a thin glass visor located at the top centre and were firmly sealed shut by thick metal locks holding the object in a tight and secure grip. All those present, except Eggman, stared in astonishment and awe of the sight they were bearing witness to. Sonic cautiously approached the container on the left hand side of the giant machine, he had been so captivated with wonder at what could be inside the object that he had failed to notice the many dents that appeared to be pushing out from the container… as if something inside had tried desperately to free itself.

Slowly Sonic stepped up to the coffin-like container, the tubes were still pumping in the sickening liquid via three small sockets located at the top, middle and lower section of the container. At first the cobalt hedgehog had figured that the object was at least twice his stature, but once he was standing opposite it he found that it was practically the same height as he was and since he and Shadow were the same height, he figured that the other metal coffin would be the identical height of his ebony counterpart. Sonic could feel the mixed feelings of fear and wonder tug at his mind, eventually the desire to know just what was inside won the mental struggle. Peering through the thin glass visor into the darkness, Sonic struggled to get a clear view of just what lay within, even cupping his gloved hands around his eyes in order to try and block out the light that surrounded him failed to help. He was just about to give up when two eyes suddenly appeared in the darkness. The hedgehog's jaw dropped as fear coursed through his body making him jump a few steps back away from the metallic container and causing a slight outburst of mocking laughter from the rotund doctor, cautiously he once again approached the object and looked through the glass window. A pair of orange eyes leered at Sonic and as the blue hedgehog moved his head from left to right across the glass visor, the black pupils of the beast within followed his every move.

Having seen all that he wanted to, Sonic walked away and positioned himself alongside his ebony counterpart. As the eyes of the of yet unrevealed creature, ablaze with malice, watched him go, a hidden viscous smirk crossed the owner's face and at that moment Sonic could have sworn that he heard the sound of blood curdling laughter emanate from within the steel coffin but he quickly dismissed it as nothing more than his own mind playing cruel tricks on him. Shadow said nothing when Sonic returned to his previous position alongside him, his mind was totally focused now on what, having seen how Sonic reacted to one of the metal containers, could possibly be locked inside the other.

At that moment the entire room fell silent as the machine began to power down, the only sound that could be heard was the quiet chuckling of Eggman. The tubes attached to the container on the right hand side of the machine instantly ceased to functioning and detached themselves from it, thus spilling their remaining contents onto the smooth steel floor. The stench of the spilled liquids was quite overpowering and the female members of the team held their noses in true disgust, however their focus quickly turned to the metal coffin when the sound of electronic locks becoming unbolted was heard echoing throughout the room. No-one dared move as the heavy steel door slowly swung open pouring a thin mist-like substance into the atmosphere. When it finally cleared, Shadow's eyes widened as he gazed upon the sight that _he_ was intended to see. Attached to the inside of the container and held in place by iron chains round the wrists, ankles, waist and neck, stood a Shadow's dark twin.

The doppelganger was a strange sight indeed to behold; it was silver furred with streaks of green covering certain areas of its many quills and the only items of clothing that it wore were a pair of black leather fingerless gloves and a pair of hover shoes practically identical in every way to those worn by Shadow himself. No other member had yet spotted this but when Shadow's eyes glanced over every aspect of his supposed twin, he noticed that, as well as the standard glowing dog collar around the neck albeit partly obscured by the chains, there were a pair of bracelets around its wrists. Shooting a glance at his own Shadow then looked back at those worn by the strange hedgehog, they appeared to be made of a kind of crystal-like subsatnce and Shadow could only guess that they indeed served the same purpose as his own.

"My dear Shadow, it gives me great pleasure to introduce to you, as well as everyone else, your brother… SETH!", barked the mad doctor.

As everyone else shot a quick glance towards Eggman's position, Shadow remained completely focused on the figure in front of him. He now knew that this thing indeed had a name to call itself, a name that was designed to ignite feelings of sheer terror in all who stood before it, a name that seemed to contain every visage of malice, selfishness, horror and madness within each individual letter and that name… was Seth. Suddenly, upon hearing its name, as if it was some sort of planned signal, the once motionless creature sparked into life. Lifting its head up for all to see, two eyelids shot open reveling a pair of frightful yellow eyes that seemed to pierce deep into the very soul of the person whom they rested upon. Shadow sensed what was about to occur and was not about to give this new foe an opening that could possibly give it the upper hand, despite the fact that the silver hedgehog was still chained to the inside of its metal prison he charged towards it. Shadow's right hand began to glow with a powerful yellow light, the more energy he gathered together in preparation for his attack upon his supposedly defenseless foe, the brighter his gloved fist became. Sparks of fire spat forth in all directions leaving small charred marks on the floor's steel surface and the black hedgehog grinned as he sensed victory to be so close that it was possible to taste it in the air, Sonic and the others shouted for him to stop but something deep down in the back of the cobalt hero's mind told him that Shadow had no intention of doing so. Coming to a sudden stop within two to three feet of the target, Shadow the hedgehog leered at his imprisoned enemy, who only gave a confident and crooked grin in response, and proceeded to stretch his hand out behind him and then brought it back around with tremendous force, "CHAOS SPEAR!", he bellowed and in that instant many beams of pulsating chaotic energy spouted forth from his hand and impacted at point blank range against his target. Everyone stood around in shock, even Eggman cocked an eyebrow at what was occurring before him, but no scream or wail of agony was heard from the supposed victim of Shadow's assault.

Thick smoke clouded the area making it all but impossible for anyone to see a thing, but Sonic could guess that Shadow had a confident smile etched across his face. Indeed that was the case, Shadow the hedgehog smiled gleefully at what he thought was an unworthy challenge to his supreme might but as he turned to walk away, his thoughts quickly turned to those of astonishment when a bone chilling voice was heard piercing through the smoke…

"Is that really the best you can do? I expected better".

Upon hearing the voice Shadow turned on his heel and stared into the smoke. Slowly it began to clear and when it has sufficiently done so, the silver furred fiend decided that now was the time to go on the offensive. Gathering barely a fraction of his strength together, Seth ripped the iron chains around his wrists from the inner wall of his metallic prison with such considerable ease that it seemed that he had only intended to remain in that position of so-called defenselessness in order to trick any foolish challenger right from the start… and it had worked a treat. The silver fiend then grabbed hold of the thick chains around his muscular waist and pulled them apart with ease, he then proceeded to apply the same method to the restraints around his ankles, ripping them apart like a small child ripping a sheet of paper in half. Shadow remained unperturbed by his dark twin's direct show of strength, in fact he was rather pleased that this foe presented a greater challenge than he had previously thought. Now he would test his nemesis's full power and see if he could be found wanting.

Shadow braced himself for the counter attack, he clenched his fists as tight as he could causing them to glow with a pulsating red light. Waiting for the right moment to unleash his tremendous power and swamp his foe in a tidal wave of deadly chaos energy, Shadow soon discovered that he had drastically underestimated his opponent. Before he could react, Seth thundered towards him in a flash of silver light, everyone stood silent and in shock as the silver comet hurtled towards Shadow's position at speed that rivaled that of Sonic. In a heartbeat Seth was on his ebony twin, at first he just pinned him to the floor with one gloved hand holding down both arms by the wrists and the other grinding Shadow's head into the shiny surface of the metal floor, and try as he might the black hedgehog could not get free from the ever tightening grip. Watching with abundant joy at the sight of his pathetic brother trying to desperately wriggle free, Seth lowered his head closer to Shadow's own and began to whisper cruel and mocking jibes in his ear…

"Is this all you have in you… for someone who claims to be the 'Ultimate life form', your power is nothing more than a joke". Seth then rotated his head just enough to look Shadow directly in the eye, yellow orbs of cruelty met red infernos of hate which seemed to silently cry out for vengeance for a wounded pride. As the silver furred menace leered at his beaten opponent, a malicious toothy grin formed across his face releasing small droplets of saliva that fell onto and seemed to burn Shadow's furry cheek. Just at that moment, before anyone knew what was happening, a powerful blue comet came out of nowhere and struck the silver hedgehog firmly in the right side of his torso, thus sending him skidding and rolling across the floor. Sonic the hedgehog had joined the fray. Seth steadily picked himself up off the floor but instead of the uncontrollable rage that one would expect to see etched across his face at being subjected to such an assault, he remained surprisingly calm. In fact he actually began to laugh at his situation. It was a gut churning laugh full of hate and deceit and all those who sided with Sonic suddenly felt their heart skip a beat, that is all except the blue blur himself who had hurried to his wounded comrade's side and grabbed hold of his left arm in order to pull him to his feet. Seth, who was witnessing Sonic's sickening attempts at assistance, pointed and calmly uttered a stark warning to him…

"I'm giving you just one chance blue boy to back off now… this fight is between me and that faker and no-one will interfere. Walk away now, or say goodbye to those speedy assets of yours".

Sonic bravely ignored the threat and focused on Shadow, but his attempts at helping him were found to be pointless as Shadow forcefully retracted his arm from Sonic's hand and pushed him away.

"He's right, Sonic. This fight is between him and me alone and I will not permit anyone to get in my way".

As he stood up, Sonic backed away, bowed his head and held up his hands as a sign of surrender before turning around and walking back to his companions. As he walked, he pondered to himself whether or not the pair were so dissimilar from one another at all, but he knew that he could forgive Shadow for acting up the way he just had. When that hedgehog's pride was at stake, he knew that nothing would stop him from doing what he had to.

Shadow watched Sonic head back to join the others, but then slowly turned his head to face his opponent. The expression on his face no longer displaying signs of arrogant confidence, but instead signs of waiting and hoping to discover a chink in his enemy's armour and exploit it. Every other member of the Sonic team tried to find somewhere conveniently safe to hold out until the battle was over, but where was there to go, with Eggman keeping watch over them as well as their dark twins just itching for a chance to get each and everyone of them within their grasp… suddenly the room felt very small and the atmosphere very terrifying. Eggman himself was a little unnerved at the prospect of a slugging match between the two hedgehog's, he knew perfectly well the power that they could unleash if brought to such a level of rage. Shadow, as nearly everyone was aware, was akin to a hornet when riled. The doppelgangers simply did not know what to make of the events that were proceeding before their eyes, some felt a mixture of jealously and anger whilst others felt something nagging in the back of their twisted psyche, whether it was some form of respect no-one knew for only they had the answers but then again how could that be possible for them. The idea of comprehending something as special as respect for another living being was either abhorrent or alien to them. Nevertheless, what they all felt was a sense of anticipation of what was going to unfold.

The two hedgehog's slowly approached one another, only halting when there was an approximately ten to twelve feet gap between them. Both shot a toothy grin at one another and then, in sync, held out one of their gloved hands in front of them. Holding out his hand in front of him, Shadow's palm began to glow with a blood red light. Growing in intensity, his hand became as if alight with red flame, his muscles along his arms and chest began to tighten as he forced increasing amounts of chaos energy into his prepared assault. Sparks shot out in all directions and flashes of red light flickered then vanished from sight, but all the while Seth made no movement. He just stood still with his hand stretched out before him and the palm facing shadow, it may have looked to the casual observer that Seth was making no preparations to defend himself… but then again sometimes the best defense is a good offense.

"_Why does he not attack… he isn't even trying to defend himself… he must know what I'm about to unleash, I guess that he is more foolish than I thought_", Shadow pondered to himself as that sense of overconfidence once again planted itself firmly in his mind.

The room now seemed to have altered in appearance, red light reflected off the shiny metal surfaces and made it appear as if the entire room was bathed in blood. Brighter and brighter it became until all except the two combatants began to shield their eyes, and at that moment the power of raw chaos was unleashed.

"CHAOS BLAST!", roared Shadow as a beam of powerful energy was emitted from his hand and hurtled towards his apparently defenseless target. Now Seth made his move.

As the blast impacted against Seth's hand, nearly everyone expected the silver furred hedgehog to be obliterated by the force of the chaos energy that was unleashed upon him but to their utter shock that thought was proven to be drastically incorrect. As soon as the chaos energy had touched his hand… it was absorbed straight into his body. The energy flowed into his torso and immediately combined with his own chaos energy, his muscles began to contract and just for a few moments the fur on his body began to glow as the newly acquired power coursed through his system like the flow of blood. Arching his head back and gazing up at the ceiling, Seth clenched his fists and let out a thunderous roar of delight as he drank in the terrific feeling. It was pure unadulterated ecstasy to him. Suddenly he shot his head back to its previous position and leered at Shadow, his yellow eyes now shone as bright as the midday sun itself but if he had hoped to unnerve his opponent then he was gravely mistaken. Shadow would not be cowed so easily. Seth now held out his hand in front of him and in that moment, green flame erupted forth within his palm.

"My turn", he said with a sly smile.

The fire within his hand flared with great intensity, the energy used to power it was now doubled since Seth was now boosting it with the power he had absorbed from Shadow's attack. Green sparks flickered and died as the flame now fully engulfed his entire limb, then bringing his hand as far out to the side as it would reach, Seth then swung it back around to its original position with great force and thus causing the flaming energy attack to shoot forth from his grip.

"PSYCHO RAZOR!", he bellowed as a large crescent moon shaped disc, completely ablaze with green fire, erupted forth and hurtled towards the still stunned Shadow with frightening speed.

Shadow just managed to pull himself together before noticing the blade of fire hurtling towards him, diving to the floor the disc just missed giving him a close shave by mere inches. Everyone braced themselves as the disc impacted against the nearest wall and exploded sending molten shards of metal and sparks in all directions, Shadow had no time to think of counter attacking for as soon as he was on the ground another disc of fire was bearing down upon him. Pushing himself off the floor with his hands and achieving a perfect forward roll in mid-air Shadow once again narrowly avoided being hit, the subsequent explosion shook the room and sent metal, rock and flame in all directions. However, what could have been viewed as a blessing in disguise was the thick smoke that rose up and into the atmosphere, Shadow the hedgehog now had an ally that he could use to fight back.

For a few significant moments no-one could see a thing, Seth closed his eyes and listened intently for any sudden movements made by his adversary. Shadow quietly landed a few feet away behind his target; the silver hedgehog had not moved and showed no visible signs indicating that he knew he was there. Focusing his power into a physical manifestation of energy, Shadow let fly another attack that he hoped would hit its mark this time round.

At that moment the yellow eyes flared open at the realization that the target had at last been located. Turning on his heel, Seth now raised his left arm across his torso in an apparent defensive maneuver.

"CHAOS SPEAR!", yelled Shadow as three bursts of energy once more erupted forth from his gloved hand.

Seth waited until the last moment when the deadly chaos energy was almost upon him before swinging his muscled arm out before him causing it to impact against Shadow's attack, the silver hedgehog had to desire to absorb such a, what he considered, weak source of energy. Although he could have done so, to act the way he did served a far greater purpose to him… it proved a point to his nemesis. Once the spear attack was deflected the three beams of energy were sent spiraling out of control and impacted against whatever was closest to them, two blew small craters in the metallic floor thus again sending shards of rock and metal in all directions whilst the third gauged a sizable hole in the wall next to the balcony upon which the mad doctor himself was standing in order to get he best view of the proceeding battle. Eggman did not expect such an attack to get so close to him ad he dived to the floor in fear for his life, earning a small chuckle of laughter from Sonic in response to his actions.

The quick deflection of his attack had left Seth open and seemingly vulnerable, the smoke was lifting but there remained just enough of it for Shadow to get in close to his foe and hopefully turn the tide of battle in his favour. His hover shoes now blazed into life and allowed the ebony hedgehog to hurtle towards his target, the smoke parting in his wake. Clenching his right fist as tight as he could Shadow shot forth towards his dark twin in a blaze of yellow light and landed a mighty punch to his foe's chest, the force of the impact lifting his feet from the ground and sending the silver fiend flying back where he smacked against the wall on the far side of the laboratory. Once his body hit the wall the force of the impact created a significant dent in its steel surface, the seemingly damaged frame slumped to the floor and remained motionless whilst Shadow panted and breathed heavily, his heart beat with fury as the rush of pure adrenaline and exhaustion began to take its toll on him. As the silver hedgehog lay utterly still, arms collapsed and apparently lifeless at his sides, the smallest thoughts of victory entered the ebony warrior's mind... that was until the crystal bracelets began to glow.

Slowly at first, but then at a much faster pace, the bracelets worn by the silver enemy began pulsating with a bright yellow glow until they were utterly ablaze. Eyelids flared open and yellow orbs full of malice and cruelty leered at the figure on the opposite side of the room, slowly the silver warrior lifted himself from the ground. As Shadow braced himself for the inevitable, Seth roared to the heavens with untamed fury and charged towards his brother at speed that rivaled or even outmatched Shadow's own. Placing one foot behind him Shadow stood poised in battle position, ready and waiting to knock his opponent down to the ground once again… but it was not to be. Seth seemed unstoppable as he charged towards his target and only leaving a burred trail of white light in his wake, Shadow remained unperturbed however as he focused all his strength into one fist of fury, he knew that he would only have one shot and if he missed then the results could be catastrophic for him.

"_Shit, he's too fast… I cannot lock onto his movements, but I have to try_", he thought to himself as he tried to maintain some form of confidence, but even so it seemed to ebb away with every step forward the Seth made.

He held off for as long as he dared and then, when he felt the time had come, he unleashed it with enough force that it could have easily shattered the rib cage and ruptured the internal organs of his foe. The only problem was… he missed. Seth dodged the punch against him, spun round behind his twin and delivered an almighty blow to the back of Shadow's neck with his elbow causing him to collapse to the floor in total agony. As Shadow writhed and screamed on the floor as pain coursed through his body he tried in utter desperation to hold on to his remaining strength, but the power within him was draining fast. Even with his golden bracelets Shadow knew that he could not fight any longer, but he still had one last desperate card to play. The high energy levels needed to perform the Nova Blast attack were no longer available to him as an option, but he believed that if he could focus his remaining chaos energy into one all out assault on his enemy at point blank range then he could just possibly snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. It was a most desperate gamble, but what other choice did he have.

Suddenly Shadow ceased any form of movement and lay motionless in a fetal position on the floor, Seth advanced triumphantly towards him not realizing that Shadow's right hand, which he had carefully concealed under his body and out of his enemy's line of sight, began to pulsate with an eerie blood-red glow. Seth loomed over his beaten opponent and smiled a toothy grin before mercilessly kicking Shadow in the back, just to make sure that his enemy was well and truly dead. Shadow bore the added pain with true dignity, this new feeling of pain added to the agony that flowed through his system like it was ablaze with fire made the ebony warrior wince and grit his teeth, his mind began to lose all traces of memories past and present and he felt like shutting his eyes and falling into darkness. Just at that moment, as Shadow felt like letting go, Seth knelt beside him and began to whisper into his ear…

"Looks like the title of ultimate life-form now belongs to me, you weak, pathetic fool. You should have realised right from the very beginning that it was pointless to appose me".

"Go… fuck yourself", weakly replied Shadow as he rolled over onto his back, his right hand now visibly awash with glowing chaos energy. A small, weak smile raced across Shadow's face as he placed his hand, palm flat, against his dark twin's chest.

"CHAOS BLAST!", he screamed as red energy, burning with what fury and strength remained within him, burst forth and impacted against the silver furred fiend at point blank range.

Seth was hurled against the nearest wall as red fire swallowed him whole and burned his fur and flesh, there he remained pinned against the metal tiles of the wall as they began to twist, buckle and melt from the intense heat. Sadly though Shadow's remaining strength gave out just when he had gained the upper hand over his rival, the chaos energy grew dimmer and dimmer before eventually fading completely. The black hedgehog had gambled, and lost. Shadow's legs gave way beneath him and he collapsed to the floor, but he would not be allowed to slip into unconsciousness without enduring just one last bout of incomprehensible fury from his nemesis. Seth, now in agonizing pain, forced himself to stand and began to approach Shadow's position. His silver fur was now blackened and charred in certain places and trickles of blood poured forth from the many burnt patches of naked flesh on his torso and face. If he had looked frightening before, now he looked the epitome of evil and horror made manifest. When he reached his destination, Seth grabbed Shadow by his neck and held his frail form aloft for all to see. Shadow tried to speak but he simply had not the strength to do so, all he could do was to think of how it had come to this.

"_How… is this… possible, I used… all my… energy… and he… doesn't even… seem out of breath. This is… not possible_", he thought to himself. Finally he could not even keep his eyes open any longer, the red jewels which once shone with power, arrogance and fire now seemed dull and lifeless compared to the yellow ones that stared back at him.

"Such bravery… is almost admirable… if it wasn't so pathetic", spat Seth as he seethed with rage that was almost at the point of breaking free.

Shadow could not reply even if he had wanted to, he just smiled at his enraged enemy and then went limp as he fell into unconsciousness. Seth was about to finish him off for good when the mad man intervened.

"Well done my warrior, but there is no need to kill him just yet…", a sly smile now formed across the ageing doctor's face, "… I shall allow him to live for the time being. Besides, you have not even proven your true capabilities to him yet and it would truly be a great shame if he was to perish without witnessing them at first hand".

Seth seemed to take great delight in the fact that his master wanted his adversary kept alive for the time being. Showing complete contempt for his opponent, Seth flung Shadow like a rag doll to the ground before turning and walking away to join the rest of his kind. As he approached them, the doppelgangers of the other Sonic team members shuffled aside to make room for this newcomer to their group. They may have felt jealousy and hatred towards him but they were not stupid enough to make a move against him, instead they bided their timed and simply waited for an opportunity to arise. As they eyed him in desperation to try and discover a chink in his seemingly indestructible armour, they were oblivious to the attempts Sonic and Tails made to try and help their fallen comrade. As the two brothers rushed towards their teammate Eggman watched their movements from his elevated position, it was simply unfathomable to him why the pair would try to help the one individual whom he had thought never cared for anyone except himself. To see such displays of kindness play out in front of him made his stomach feel a little unsettled.

"He looks in pretty bad shape lil bro, what do you suggest?", asked Sonic.

Tails at first shot Sonic a worried look, but something in the back of his mind told him that he would pull through. This was Shadow after all. "He just needs rest, Sonic. I'm sure that in time he'll be back on his feet", came the reply

"I hope your right, Tails. Let's just hope that he's learned his lesson". As the two of them began to drag Shadow's unconscious form back to the rest of the group, the irritating but nonetheless malicious voice of Eggman was heard.

"Such an act of Kindness to one such as him makes me feel a mixture of respect… and nausea", mocked the rotund doctor, "But this is not the time to concern yourself with such trivial matters, the time for _you_ to now prove yourself to us all has finally come".

Sonic halted where he stood and wondered what his fat enemy had meant, but it suddenly dawned upon him when the sound of mechanical locks unbolting flowed into his ears.

…………………………………………………………………………

**Well here is a fight I promised you but this is only a taste of what will come when Shadow fights Seth later on. I'm sorry once again it has taken so long but recently I have had very little time to write anything, since I've begun my summer job I only have a window of about an hour a day (except weekends) in which I can write something. Sonic vs his dark twin is up next so I hope you'll enjoy that chapter too. Also before I go I must make mention of these fics THAT EVERYONE MUST READ by these authors:**

**LovelyBubbles07 – 'Flight Of Passion' and 'Lone Rose in the Garden'**

**STaR Productions – 'Shadow the Hedgehog: The Full Story'**

**DarkspineSilver92 – 'Mephiles Malevolence'**

**Storm Midnight – 'The Fourth Key' (if you are a kingdom hearts fan then read this)**

**Blue-Kaous – 'Violet Dreams: Crisis Hour'**

**The Footsteps In The Darkness – 'Tails's Luck'**

**Tutis 75 – 'Brothers of Destiny'**

**I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and to all my faithful readers – you must read the fics mentioned above. So stop what your doing (unless its reading one of MY fics of course) and go and read those ones. Chow.**


	9. Know Thy Self PART 3

Glad everyone enjoyed the previous chapter, and I know you all must be relieved that posting this chapter up did not take as long as the last

**WOW! Over 1,100 hits and 51 reviews to this fic so far, i'm so pleased… but I want more. I'm glad the everyone enjoyed the previous chapter and I hope that you'll like this one just as much if not more so. ENJOY!!**

**Chapter 9: Know Thy Self PART 3**

The cobalt Hero braced himself for what was about to occur, whilst his little brother dragged an unconscious Shadow away from the battle ground towards the rest of the group Sonic's eyes scanned the area in which the silvered furred warrior and his rival had fought. Sonic simply could not believe the sheer immensity of raw power that Seth had unleashed and what was more disconcerting was the fact that he had not even unleashed his true power against Shadow, he had merely been testing him for signs of strength and weakness… and Shadow had been found wanting. To say that what he had witnessed worried Sonic would be an understatement, although he put on a brave face fear coursed through his system like a flow of blood, his heart began to beat at twice the normal rate and his mind was flooded with questions for which the answers seemed to be beyond his grasp.

"_Seth seemed to know what tactics Shadow would use against him, perhaps my so-called 'brother' will likely know the same of me. Chances are that he will have the same ability of high speed as me, or perhaps he will be faster? NO! that cannot be, no-one is faster than me so that'll mean that our speed will be equal. I guess I'll have to play this one by ear and merely wait for him to make a mistake_", Sonic thought to himself.

The metallic door slowly swung open spilling the contents of the container into the room, Sonic knew that if he had no choice but to let his doppelganger be set free from his restraints in order to face him in combat. After all, he did not possess anything near the level of power that Shadow possessed but if he had then he would have undoubtedly made the first move. The mist had slowly begun to evaporate when the familiar orange eyes blazed into life. Sonic stood his ground striking the familiar pose of defiance that his friends had born witness to time and time again, but even though his outward appearance suggested a small manner of confidence the blue blur felt a deep sense of uneasiness about the situation he now found himself in. Clenching his fists and emitting a hushed growl, Sonic waited for the final newcomer to make himself known.

Once the mechanical locks released the occupant from its metallic prison the stranger strode forth through the now rapidly dissipating vapours, a pair of sneakers similar to Sonic's own was what the blue furred hero first noticed about his twin. The shoes were similar in design to Sonic's except that this pair had a green texture to it and had symbols of roaring flames covering certain areas of each one. The strange hedgehog ceased all movement except for folding his gloved hands across his chest, the gloves were as white as winter snow an exact match to Sonic's own, but this bearer had no intention of using them for innocent matters… they were merely used to stop his enemy's blood from staining his hands. The black leather jacket, also covered in icons of roaring flames across the shoulders and arms, suited him well, it made his presence known to all those around him, the rattling of the belt buckles attached to the bottom of jacket was the only sound that was heard as those in Sonic's company did not dare draw breath for fear of this intimidating brute. Then sonic looked his brother in the eye.

Emerald orbs of decency and selflessness met with orange ones of hate and insanity, Sonic's breathing slowed as he clenched his fists and contracted his muscles in his arms and legs ready for what his twin would throw his way. No-one dared to utter any words at all, the doppelgangers were too engrossed in trying to figure out this new arrival to say anything and the master himself merely waited patiently for his creation to beat his greatest enemy into the ground. For years Eggman had tried in vain to destroy the blue rat, now he sensed that his greatest victory was finally within his grasp. For minutes, although they felt like hours, the two hedgehogs stared at one another, patches of Sonic's blue fur tingled and stood on end as nervous twitches attacked him but the brown fur on the body of his foe remained utterly still. Finally the doppelganger spoke, his voice was identical to Sonic's in pitch and tone, so convincing was it that anyone who heard it would swear blind that they were talking to the cobalt hero himself.

"We meet at last… Sonic the hedgehog", uttered the brown furred menace.

Sonic's eyes widened at the realisation that this thing knew him by name, what else did it know about him he wondered. "First meetings usually warrant introductions, or has being locked up in that tin can affected your manners". His comment only caused a chuckle of amusement from his twin, but these light hearted antics would not last long.

"I thought that such childish comments would have been beneath you, I guess the good doctor was right all along about you", his reply now caused not only concern but confusion to build within his blue counterpart.

"What?... who are you? TELL ME!", he screamed.

"Oh come now Sonic, don't you know who I am? You may have not seen me but I have always been with you, we have become quite… intimate at times you might say", he said with a sly smile.

"What? TALK FUCKING SENSE!", bellowed Sonic as he felt himself becoming more and more filled with frustration at not being able to get a clear answer.

"That's exactly what I mean".

"Huh?"

"That anger, that sense of frustration, I can feel it building within you and you still don't recognise me. You really are quite the fool".

"I am the part of you that has helped you survive certain dire circumstances, you keep me suppressed deep within the dark confines of your psyche but yet I am always there… whispering to you when you are alone. I have always been with you since the day you… sorry… I mean _we_ were born". Sonic now began to tremble with fear but yet he still did not fully comprehend what his doppelganger was saying to him.

"The answer that you seek to your question still seems to elude your tiny mind, despite the numerous hints that I have thrown your way. You still don't realise that I am your brother".

Sonic refused to believe what he had just been told, it simply was not possible… was it. "You are not my brother, my true brother stands over there...", he indicated towards Tails and gave him a confident wink, "…what are you compared to him?".

"You seriously think that that boy knows you like I do, that two-tailed freak is no more your brother than my master is your father".

It was at this point that Sonic lost it, charging towards his enemy at full throttle he threw a right hook towards his target's face, the twin just gave a mischievous smirk and easily dodged the incoming blow. Before Sonic could react he felt a muscular arm wrap itself around his neck and a quick jab to the back of his left knee forced him to the floor as a slight sense of pain travelled up his leg, Sonic was helpless, every time he tried to desperately struggle free the grip would tighten thus further cutting off his supply of oxygen. He friends tried to rush to his aid but were stopped by their own dark twins blocking their path, they were in a much better fighting condition than the originals so all that the Sonic team could do was to look on helplessly at the situation in front of them and hope for the best. Weaker and weaker Sonic felt himself becoming as he struggled to breathe, his doppelganger relished in the feeling of being victorious but he was also somewhat disappointed that the fight appeared to be over so very soon. Twisting his head so as to whisper into the cobalt hero's ear, he began to pour mocking scorn into him…

"The child is dear to you it seems, perhaps once I have finished with you I'll test him out. The freak seems like he might put up some meagre resistance, but in the end I'll snap his scrawny neck like a twig. How does that make you feel, Sonic? How does it feel to know that I'll look deep into his innocent eyes and make his mind scream with fear before I kill him? How does it feel to know that you will have failed to protect someone you love?

Sonic's eyes grew wide at the dreadful thoughts, he could picture in his mind the horrifying image of this monster lifting his little brother of the ground with a single hand, tighten his iron grip around the child's little neck and promptly squeeze the life out of him. The thought of the poor boy trying desperately to struggle free from the beasts' powerful grip as well as the fact that he would be unable to save him from certain death was too much for Sonic to take, tears welled up in his eyes and slowly trickled down his cheeks. Again and again he could hear the mocking laughter of his nemesis in his head, the thoughts of Tails dying in front of him began to cleave his heart in twain. NO! he would not let it happen, he would never let his best friend down a second time, he would never abandon him to death at the hands of this monster. The feelings of rage and hate began to well up inside the blue furred hero; it coursed through his entire system like a raging inferno that could no longer be controlled.

Sonic could feel his strength returning at incredible speed, but this was strength that was not born out of love and kindness it was the same strength that could only be created from fear and malice. Grabbing his foe's arm that was still trying to suffocate him, he threw the entire body of his enemy over his shoulder with minimal effort. The body of his enemy was hurled across the room and impacted against the nearest wall causing many of the metal tiles to become so severely dented that they fell from the positions and crashed to the ground. Sonic slowly rose off the floor and looked across at his dark twin who had also managed to get back on his feet, although it was slightly painful to do so. Sonic could feel the anger and hate within him not diminish in any way, he was slightly surprised at what he felt within, normally he would deal with his anger quite effectively… but this time was different. The visions he had of Tails were so painful that they seemed to carve a deep wound into his very soul, the blue hedgehog would never forgive himself if he allowed anything to happen to his brother, even if it was beyond his control to stop it. Breathing heavily he let out grunts of fury every time he exhaled, all those around him, even Eggman himself, had never seen Sonic so furious before in their lives… and it actually scared them. However, little did they, and even Sonic, know that the whole ordeal had been a trap, the doppelganger had influenced Sonic's mind with visions of suffering and death so effectively that his true dark side had revealed itself… which is just what the evil twin had planned to accomplish from the very beginning.

"Now do you know who I truly am, Sonic?", came the sly remark followed by a toothy grin.

"How does it feel to have such untamed raw power flowing through you? It feels good doesn't it to know that nothing can stand against you and survive. It's at times like this dear brother that you have to ask yourself… are we truly so different from one another you and I".

Sonic's eyes went wide with shock at the realisation of what he was becoming, his head began to throb with pain thus causing him to collapse to his knees whilst gripping his head in his hands. Seeing what was occurring before them Amy began to weep, Tails tried desperately to comfort her but it was no use, she collapsed to the floor and cried into her delicate hands at the knowledge that her love was in great pain and yet she was unable to help him. Knuckles gritted his teeth in frustration and mouthed silent remarks of encouragement, it mattered not that Sonic was unable to hear him, all that did matter is that the red furred hothead believed in him. As Sonic remained in a state of constant mental agony on the metallic floor his dark twin was determined to keep his brother's true self from resurfacing, only by doing so could he maintain the upper hand.

"You cannot fight it brother, you may have suppressed your anger before but now the time has come for a new you to be born. I ask you to put aside your past self and let the ultimate power that has lain dormant within you since birth awaken", the doppelganger casually walked over to Sonic's position and knelt beside him much to the great displeasure of the other members of the Sonic team.

"GET AWAY FROM HIM YOU MONSTER!", screamed Amy who had ceased shedding tears for her hero and now only felt the urge to rush to his side and defend him.

The brown furred hedgehog ignored her screams of anger and continued to torment his victim, "Give up this resistance brother you cannot truly deny what strength lies within you…", Sonic was still in great pain as the battle for control of his mind was constantly swinging to and fro but he still refused to give in, "…sooner or later dear brother you will come around to my way of thinking… it is inevitable".

"N NO… I… WILL NOT… LET MY… ANGER… G GET CONTROL… OF ME!". At that moment everything changed. Sonic felt the darkness within him shrink away to nothing and lashed out at his twin, the doppelganger failed to react in time to avoid a powerful punch straight to the chin thus sending him reeling and crashing to the ground on his back. The cobalt hedgehog had emerged victorious from the battle with his own mind but now he faced an even greater challenge… defeating himself.

The brown furred fiend seethed with rage at what had been done to him but remained confident that if he could weaken his brother physically in combat then his delicate mind, as he saw it, would be open to attack once again, only this time he was determined not to fail. Steadily raising himself off the metallic ground, the beast prepared himself for a fight. If his brother could not see the folly of his earlier decision to ignore his inner power, then he would be forced to yield to it. Sonic himself also stood ready in battle position, he knew that he had been lucky to shake off the chains of his inner daemons this time round but who could really know the outcome of this battle. But there was one thing he was sure of… he had to win or else be damned.

"You are stronger than I anticipated brother, but that was only just a mind fuck to torment you into unleashing your inner darkness. You showed me but a taste of the true power you hold within, all you need is a little _encouragement_ to release it fully".

"Never", barked Sonic' reply, "I know your tricks now, but what you fail to see is that there are stronger feelings than fear and hate. You play on those because they are all that you know, they are what you are… but I have feelings far stronger in me that you will never understand", he said as a warm hearted smile of confidence crept across his face.

"And what are they, brother?", came the reply.

"Love and true friendship".

"If that is what you believe gives you power then let us test it out, I will indeed show you your error of judgement".

"We shall see", came Sonic' only reply.

Before anyone could even draw breath the battle had begun. The two hedgehogs charged towards each other at break-neck speeds and only leaving blurred trails of blue and orange light in their wake, when Sonic came within spitting distance of his foe he threw punch after mighty punch against him… but it came to nothing. The dark twin was able to either block his brother's attacks with his own or had skilfully avoided a direct hit by dodging the incoming blows against him. For what seemed like hours, although it was only a matter of minutes, the twins traded punch after punch and kick after kick against each other but neither of them could land a successful hit. Eventually Sonic broke contact, rushing towards the wall on the far side of the laboratory with his enemy in hot pursuit the blue hero leapt a few feet into the air, made contact with the wall, rebounded off it and swung his right leg around with such tremendous force that when his shoe made contact with his twin's face it sent him spinning and flying across the room… Sonic had timed his attack perfectly and it had paid off.

Whilst the foe was down Sonic rushed towards his position and leapt on top of him, grabbing hold of the neck with one hand Sonic began to mercilessly pound him with the other. The brown hedgehog seemed defenceless; with his blue twin's grip ever tightening around his throat he began to squirm ferociously in a desperate attempt to free himself. Sonic continued to beat him with unbridled savagery, his anger had only returned in part but there was something else that had taken hold of him and now made him appear as a savage beast completely devoid of mercy… he was enjoying causing pain. Again and again fists would impact against his brother's face, bruises now covered the delicate areas of exposed flesh of his cheeks and small trickles of blood began to seep from his nose and mouth as well as the many cuts and gashes around his jaw and forehead. Sonic was oblivious to the cries from his friends for him to cease his attack, all his focus was now on putting his enemy down for good. Then as if by some unknown hidden signal… he stopped. Sonic stared down at his twin who returned his gaze with those horrifying orange orbs that had always had a nasty habit of making the blue blur feel uneasy, Sonic held his fist in the air as if poised to unleash one final strike of tremendous fury upon his nemesis but he didn't or rather he felt that he couldn't… not this time.

Sonic was now engaged in another mental struggle but this time it was not with his inner daemons, but with his conscience. Sonic had been so used to destroying Eggman's robotic servants and war machines without any shred of compassion, in fact he hadn't even questioned whether it was right to cause such diabolical destruction, but he had always consoled himself with the knowledge that these were simply machines incapable of rationality or feelings. But this time it was different, this time he was facing a biological creature that _did_ have the capacity for emotions and could suffer such feelings as pain. It almost seemed like madness, showing mercy and compassion to a monster that would not hesitate to kill and destroy not just him but all those whom he loved and cared about… but he was Sonic after all and something told him deep down inside that it was not right to kill this thing that lay beaten and wounded at his feet, for to do so would mean that he was no different from his doppelganger and, more terrifyingly, Eggman himself.

"Why do you cease your attack brother? Am I not beaten? Do I not deserve to suffer for what I am and for what I will do to those you care about if given the chance?", came a cruel voice. As blood flowed from the mouth of the doppelganger it knew that whilst Sonic was torn between doing what was right and what he thought must be done, _he_ had no such qualms. To him there were only two kinds of life forms, those who have the power to dominate others and those who are weak and are considered no more than parasites to be liquidated. This really was the difference between them; they truly were two sides of the same coin.

"No, I cannot… do it", Sonic uttered.

"Why? Do you not feel the desire to kill me even though you know what'll happen if you let me live".

"I can guess, but for me that is no reason to take your life no matter how much you deserve death".

The brown hedgehog's eyes widened as he now fully contemplated the fact that he had truly underestimated his brother, "You show me mercy?", he said as a hint of surprise entered his voice

"I do", muttered Sonic even though it caused him to feel uneasy just saying it.

"Then you truly are weak, and all weakness must be EXPUNGED!", he barked and with that he delivered a powerful kick straight to Sonic's gut that sent the blue blur skidding across the floor.

Sonic managed to regain composure just in time to avoid a fist come hurtling towards his face, dodging out of the way the blue blur counterattacked with a left hook but that too was dodged. The two hedgehogs grappled with each other amongst the shattered ruins of the lab caused by Shadow and Seth's previous battle, Sonic grabbed hold of his twin's left arm and the doppelganger managed to do the same with Sonic's right. For the next few minutes the pair of them tried in vain to force each other to the ground but it was a futile attempt since both fighters had the same strength as the other. Staring into his twin's eyes Sonic's face hardened with fury as he tried desperately to gain the upper hand over his opponent. Unfortunately Sonic' guard lapsed for a brief moment during the struggle and that provided an opening fro his twin to exploit to full effect. Sensing an opening the brown furred fiend kneed his brother in the gut with such force that Sonic collapsed to the floor on his knees whilst spluttering and coughing up blood as he did so. The blue blur tried to catch his breath but the shock and force of the attack left him exposed and vulnerable for a further beating, his dark twin stood alongside him and before Sonic could make a move a powerful elbow impacted against the back of his neck sending him to the floor in pain.

"You had your chance brother to finish me, but your pathetic conscience prevented you from doing so. Now you shall regret your weakness", he said as he stooped over the seemingly motionless body of his fallen opponent.

"This fight aint over yet", replied Sonic as he lashed out against his foe with his right leg thus tripping him up, but before the brown hedgehog could make contact with the metallic floor Sonic double-kicked him in the torso sending him rolling off to one side of the room.

Sonic knew that he could not keep this fight up indefinitely, he had to find a way to put his foe down now or else he would be too weak to fight on. Turning around so as to face away from his enemy Sonic charged at full throttle towards the nearest wall, he had an idea that a spindash would be enough to take the brown menace down but he needed to gain enough speed in order for it to be effective. As he came within a few feet of the metallic surface of the wall the blue hero tucked his arms and head in-between his legs and extended his sharpened quills along his back, his entire body now began to spin at lighting speed but he knew that it was not enough, impacting against the wall Sonic rebounded off it causing him to make contact with another wall. For a few minutes he kept this up whilst increasing his speed dramatically all the time, finally he deemed the time right to strike. Bouncing off another wall Sonic headed straight for his evil twin who stood poised to take the impact of the blue comet hurtling towards him, the brown hedgehog gritted his teeth, extended his arms out in front of him and waited patiently… he would not have to wait long. Within seconds the brown furred beast had managed to snare the still spinning cobalt hero within his strong grasp and threw him like a rag doll across the room, much to the amazement of all those who witnessed it. Like a blue comet Sonic was hurtled against the wall on the far side of the lab, the impact he made in it sent shards of twisted and broken metal, rock and dust flying in all directions.

Sonic was now in serious trouble, blood poured from the many grazes and gashes that littered his entire body and he remained motionless as he lay amongst the destruction he had indirectly caused. Amy was distraught, she collapsed onto her knees with her head in her hands and wept despite Tails' words of encouragement that this was not the end… and indeed it wasn't. Slowly and painfully Sonic lifted himself from the floor, his body was wracked with pain and his once gleaming white gloves were now stained with blood and dirt, his dark twin leered at him with an unnerving stare, perhaps it was because he had hoped that he had managed to kill his brother and failed or maybe it was because the enemy he had viewed as weak had just proven him wrong. Whichever one it was, one thing was for certain… he was now really pissed off.

"You… really are… beginning to… annoy me… brother", he uttered. His voice now seethed with fury but it also displayed signs of weariness, the furious battle had indeed taken its toll on him as well.

"You claim to… know me… so well… therefore you should… know that… I'm… not one… to… give up… so easily… _brother_", replied Sonic as pain and exhaustion began to take its toll on him.

"Then… let us… FINISH THIS!", roared the brown hedgehog as he charged towards his twin with all of the energy he had left within him. Sonic too charged although it caused immense pain for him to do so. Both hedgehogs leapt at each other with such force that was possible for them to muster that when they made contact their bodies swirled around in mid air before crashing to the ground, once they had hit the floor both twins laid into each other with unparalleled ferocity, punching, kicking and biting with all the remaining strength they had left within their shattered bodies. The remaining minutes of the slugging match were painful for those who watched it from afar, but little did they know that their suffering would shortly end when the voice of the mad doctor rang out across the room.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!", he roared causing the two hedgehogs to immediately cease fighting one another.

"As you wish my master", replied the brown doppelganger. He then turned to face his blue opponent…

"Next time Sonic, it'll be your last fight". The evil twin then turned away and began walking steadily towards the rest of his dark kind, but he stopped dead in his tracks when Sonic put a question to him.

"You never did tell me your name", he asked.

The brown hedgehog did not bother to turn to answer his question face to face, instead he just remained motionless on the spot before giving his answer, "It would be a cruel shame indeed to go to your death without knowing who it was that killed you, but now is not that time… farewell Sonic".

Once the brown monster had moved off to join the rest of his master's so-called 'family', Amy, Tails and Knuckles rushed to Sonic' side. Sonic had just managed to get to his feet when he felt the familiar vice-like grip of Amy's arms wrapped themselves around his neck, Tails also tried his best to hug his brother but had to fight against Amy just to get a piece of him. It proved to be far more difficult than he had anticipated. Sonic was quite badly beaten but yet he did his best not to show any signs of discomfort to his friends, with Knuckles and Tails supporting him the small group slowly ambled back to rejoin the others.

"Such fighting spirit you have demonstrated my friend", muttered the rotund doctor.

"I must admit that you have greatly surprised me, but this was only a taste of what you must overcome when you next meet in battle. But enough of this, you once asked me for answers as to who your 'brothers' truly are, well allow me to reveal the truth to you all", he remarked.

The Sonic team had indeed desired answers to so many questions that they had as to the creation of their dark twins, what they were about to hear would indeed surprise and shock them… especially with regards to Shadow the Hedgehog.

……………………………………………………………………

**Well there we are chapter 9 is complete and all the twins have been revealed, but I'm gonna be mean and withhold the identity of Sonic's dark twin until the time of their great fight. Now for some IMPORTANT news, I plan on bringing in super sonic and super shadow for the final all out, live or die battle BUT I wish to know if you, my faithful readers, would like Hyper Knuckles and Turbo Tails to also be involved. To make your decision please visit my profile page and register your vote on my poll, don't worry you have plenty of time to do so since the final battle takes place near to the end of the story (and that's some way off yet).**

**Also some more important news, you must read these fics by these great authors:**

**Shattered Shadow – 'The Night Hedgehog: The Vampire Crystal'**

**ShadeShadow – 'The Darkened Past'**

**DarkspineSilver92 – 'Sonic the Hedgehog: Series'**

**These are great fics by great authors so do enjoy them.**

**That's all for now, I should have chapter 10 up in about 2 weeks but who knows (I would give a specific date but you all should know by now that I don't stick to them ha ha). Chow people. **


	10. Past Betrayal

Ok yeah I'm still alive and I wanna apologise for not updating this fic sooner

**Ok yeah I'm still alive and I wanna apologise for not updating this fic sooner. I wanna make a special shout out to **shadrougeblaze **for recommending this story on his/her DeviantART account. Thanks. Ok I won't bore you any longer because I know you've been waiting for this for a long while. Enjoy**

**Chapter 10: Past Betrayal**

The ebony warrior, Shadow, stirred only for a brief moment before once again becoming motionless upon the cold, hard metal floor. Ever since the battle against his dark opponent Shadow had remained unconscious, the only sign of his existence that remained was the slow rhythmic raising and lowering of his muscular chest as oxygen flowed into his lungs. He had been carried safely to within the circle of heroes who now stood with their backs to him in order to protect him, since he was obviously in no fit state to do so himself, however the mind is a complicated phenomenon and still remains completely active regardless of what occurs to the body… especially Shadow's. Even though many believed he was well and truly 'out of it', the dark warrior was still able to hear all that went on around him. He had heard the battle between sonic and his evil brother, as well as Amy's annoying but yet somewhat brave attempts to help him, and he had surmised that both fighters had just fallen short of gaining the upper hand against the other. Sensing his weakness, Shadow's mind began to reply images of the past in front of his very eyes. It was deeply unfortunate for the black hedgehog, however, that these visions only replayed images of pain and suffering and nothing more… for what else had he known his entire existence.

(**Flashback**)

_What is it that you ask of me, my master? Remarked the ebony fighter with a hint of anticipation and undeniable loyalty._

_The master's voice boomed out from its elevated position within the laboratory but yet it gave no hint of treachery, only compassion and respect... so it seemed at least. "My friend, you have served me well these many years and I wish to reward that loyalty, I know you have made mistakes in the past but I assure you that all is forgiven. I mean, how could I remain angry for long and someone as unique as you. You, who are my ultimate symbol of perfection, the ultimate form of life made manifest"._

_Shadow slowly lowered himself to one knee and closed his eyes as if in silent prayer to his master and creator. The light within the lab was dim at best but this is just how the mad scientist wished it to be, he stood atop a metal balcony and looked over his life's work before his eyes came to rest upon his most prized creation. Like a god surveying all that he had created by the whim of his genius, the old scientist stretched out his naked hand from the gloom and bade his subject rise._

"_Shadow, you have proven yourself in the many trials I have set you since your birth, in fact you have outdone my expectations of you. And such success should not go unrewarded as you are well aware, here is my gift that I hereby present to you". And with those last words, two strange circular shaped objects were hurled forth from the darkness and landed in Shadow's strong grip._

_Shadow stood glued to the spot as his gazed upon his new gifts, they were indeed strange to behold. They were gold in colour but yet they were not made from that earthborn substance, gold is a very heavy metal but these golden objects felt incredibly light in his hands. Lifting them up into the dim light, Shadow stared in awe at his reward so justly deserved, he had never seen such beautiful work of craftsmanship before in his young life but yet he did not comprehend just how unique these golden objects were. Lifting his head up to face his creator, Shadow's crimson eyes filled with tears of joy and gratefulness as he enquired about the objects. _

"_They are known as the 'Chaos Bracelets' my dear Shadow, the will grant you the ability to maintain your unique powers for an extended length of time but be warned, they are not expected to allow your powers to last indefinitely. But that is only the tip of a huge ice burg with regards to the powers that these bracelets will grant you, in time your powers and those of the bracelets will grow to become a force of spectacular proportions._

_Shadow cast his eyes over the bracelets once again before delicately placing them on his wrists, "Can they be damaged in any way, or even destroyed?" he asked inquisitively._

"_No", came the blunt reply to his question, "They can resist the highest concentration of energy used against them and survive without even so much as a scratch upon them, they are the results of many long days and nights of study and experimentation. And now I gladly place them in your care". As Shadow admired his master's gifts, a malicious smirk crossed the human's face and a silent comment was uttered from his lips although Shadow was unable to hear him. "Enjoy your reward whilst you can hedgehog, you will soon be parting company with them lest your power becomes too great for me to control". _

_Speaking to his creation once again, the human's next comment took the ebony warrior by complete surprise, "There is one other request I have for you this day, Shadow. I know that you are young but I'm sure that what I have in store for you shall not cause you too much distress" he said smirking, although Shadow was unable to see it himself._

_The hedgehog stared into the gloom as an expression of confusion and a hint of fear etched across his face thus indicating that he indeed had no idea of the agony he was about to endure, "Master? I'm afraid that I do not understand what you would have me do". He uttered as if wondering if he had, in some way, offended his creator._

"_RESTRAIN HIM!", barked the scientist._

_The dark warrior stood motionless and dumbfounded for a few seconds but was instantly set upon by dozens of worker droids who suddenly appeared out of the gloom from all corners of the laboratory. It was at this point that natural instinct took over, the natural urge to survive any threat to life implanted itself within his psyche and he prepared to fight. Without thinking, Shadow lunged at the first robotic monstrosity to come within reach, he grabbed hold of the metal limbs that formed the arms and forced it to the ground. The shrieks and sparks caused by the metal of the machine impacting against the metal surface of the lab floor filled the warrior's heart with the lust to destroy. Charging at full throttle towards the next target, Shadow threw all his strength into an all mighty kick resulting in the mid-section of the machine to become crushed so badly that the inner mechanical working ceased to function. It stood motionless for a few seconds before toppling over onto its back, the lights and sounds of mechanical components whizzed, whirred and flashed for a brief moment before halting altogether._

_The battle raged for another ten minutes or so, but in the end it was hopeless. The young shadow the Hedgehog had destroyed countless opponents but in the end he was surrounded and captured by the mindless robotic servants whom he had had nothing but contempt for. No matter how much he struggled to be free of their grip he could not escape, his mind, now burning with hatred and sadness, wanted to fight to the death, but his heart and body had become weary with the newfound discovery that the being he had once called 'Master' had lied to and betrayed him. Metal claws wrapped themselves around the youngster's wrists, ankles and neck and his disastrous attempts to escape only served to have their grip tighten and the pain to increase. Three of the numberless droids held him tightly whilst the remainder stood around the hedgehog and his metallic captors, a silent circle that appeared motionless, but should the target manage to free himself then they would be prepared to go to battle once again. All three captors extended their arms that held the hedgehog up towards their master's postion, the gloom still coated him in darkness but one could tell that a being of human origin was standing there. The dim light reflected off his spectacles and a small section of his pristine white lab coat seemed to protrude from the darkness, the scientist rested his wrinkled hands, which hand now come into view, upon the metal railings of the balcony and, although Shadow couldn't have possible seen it, a __vicious smirk crossed his face as the scientist leered at his creation._

"_Why master why, what have I done to make you hate me!?" cried shadow. The hedgehog's eyes began to fill with small tears as the feelings of fear and heartbreak coursed through his small body, but when the scientist extended his hand and gently stroked the flesh of Shadow's naked cheek his words filled the ebony warrior's mind more with shock than fear._

"_Oh my dear Shadow, you have done nothing that would make me hate you in any way shape or form. I merely wish to reward you for your loyalty to me". The human's words seemed innocent enough at first hand, but shadow would soon become aware of his cruel intentions._

"_But why this treatment, Master?" Shadow innocently asked._

_The human quickly pulled his hand away from shadow and retreated back into the gloom, "Merely a necessary precaution in order to avoid further problems, you see Shadow you are my greatest work of genius", he then paused in order to gather his thoughts in order for his grand scheme to produce the best results, "But I want to go further, if you are truly the ultimate life form then what can I achieve with a few added adjustments? The possibilities are endless and magnificent"._

_Shadow was not able to fully comprehend what his creator was planning for him, he just merely assumed that whatever it was, his master would not let him come to harm. He was far too valuable a masterpiece of scientific creation, much too good to waste… or was he?. At that moment a once secluded area of the laboratory erupted with light thus exposing the means for which the scientist was to achieve his newest works of genius. A lone operating table with leather wrist and ankle straps met the hedgehog's gaze, but that was not what truly worried him. Surrounding the metallic table were positioned numerous machines, some were no more than weirdly designed computers but others were more sinister, some of the others held long sharp needles attached to syringes that were being held in place by mechanical arms. But it was the remaining ones that caused Shadow's ruby red eyes to enlarge with fear, electrical devices carrying blades, medical lasers and even saws with jagged teeth were pointed directly at the table. Before Shadow could utter a single syllable of objection, his master's voice rang out across the room._

"_TAKE HIM TO THE OPERATING TABLE AT ONCE!" he roared. "I have plans for the subject", he muttered quietly to himself._

"_Master please don't do this, PLEASE!", but his calls went unanswered. The scientist merely stood motionless atop the balcony and even though Shadow could see it, there was not expression of sympathy or remorse upon the human's face._

_Despite the tears, the cries for mercy and the numerous struggles for freedom, Shadow the hedgehog quickly found himself placed on the shiny metal table and his arms and ankles strapped into place. At first he tried to pulls his hands free by sheer brute force… but that plan quickly failed. After a few moments of struggling Shadow new that such efforts were in vain, but he assured himself that all was not lost, closing his eyelids, Shadow felt the chaos energies he had been born with flow through his entire body. They had successfully gotten him out of many scrapes in the past and he felt confident that they would not fail him now; clenching his gloved fists as tight as possible Shadow could feel the chaos energy burning like a raging inferno within him. His hands began to glow and crackle as sparks of yellow light burst forth from his hands, he had not yet learned to master his powers and his true power that was hidden deep within his had yet to be touched but Shadow felt confident in his abilities._

_His gloved hands grew brighter and brighter until they flooded the entire room with light, "CHOAS SPE… ARRRRRRHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed shadow. Before he could finish the table upon which he lay suddenly came alive with surges of electricity flowing through it, try as he might Shadow's entire body became wracked with unimaginable pain as the electricity penetrated his very flesh. His naked cheeks burned with an intense heat causing them to turn bright red, the heat from the electricity was so intense that his skin underneath his fur began to blister and peel away from his body. Small trickles of blood seeped out from small wounds across his torso and flowed across the smooth steel table. Shadow roared to the heavens in agony, but his so-called master remained unmoved by his plight, instead he just stood alone and smirking in glee in the gloom._

_Shadow could feel his very eyes become infected with pain and thus flow with tears, he had always hated crying, he viewed it as an emotion only designed for those who were too weak or pathetic to fight for themselves. But most of all, he hated to shed tears in front of his creator whom he felt would believe that it would be a great dishonour to him if his so-called 'Ultimate Life Form' was to show any weakness… especially the shedding of tears. Such achievements that the ebony warrior had made in the past to please the human, now seemed very hollow indeed._

"_MASTER, WHY!?" screamed shadow as more electricity was passed through his body, which was now rapidly becoming frail._

"_It is nothing personal my dear Shadow", the doctor uttered in a cruel and insensitive way, "You have fulfilled your purpose to me, indeed you have surpassed my expectations of you. But all experiments I'm afraid have their little… faults hahahaha." _

_Shadow could do nothing except lie there and ponder to himself what he could have possibly done, what 'faults' did he have within him that the human had taken a great displeasure to?. "What… faults arh… do you… mean… master arh?" muttered Shadow as unimaginable pain wracked his body._

"_EMOTION!", roared the human, "Emotion is a disease which you have become infected with. I did not design you to display such nauseating feelings towards others, you were merely meant to be a creation no different to the droids that you see here. The only difference between them and you is that you are made of flesh, FLESH THAT I THOUGHT WAS STRONG!, BUT YOU ARE WEAK!. I thought that the powers of the seven chaos emeralds, which I imbued you with, would serve me through you. But it seems that I was wrong, the powers of the emeralds come from the heart and soul of there person or creature that wields them. I had hoped that your heart was dark enough to turn the powers of the emeralds to my advantage, FOR MY USE AND MY USE ALONE!", The mad scientist then paused to catch his breath as the recent outburst had drained him of his energy._

_Shadow could only wonder in amazement, and fear to some degree, at what the human was revealing to him. He knew that he had been created to become the ultimate warrior and that the jewels of chaos had given him power and life, but that he had been bred for evil made his stomach twist and turn in disgust. But somehow deep down at the back of his mind, although he had forced himself to believe that it was all a lie or a mistake, he knew that it was true… his only reason for existence was to be a slave and a biological energy conductor. Now the doctor's recent betrayal seemed to not matter to him any more… he cared for nothing now._

"_But it seems that the emeralds had other plans, unlike a machine you were not implanted with a micro computer chip that would allow you to process all data given to you and allow you to carry out my orders. But it seems that the emerald have a way of seeking out and finding the hidden force of…", the doctor once again paused for a moment as the word that he was about to utter really disgusted him, " Good, in all manner of life's creations. It appears that you are no different AND THAT IS WHAT MAKES YOU WEAK! I have plotted and schemed to achieve this moment for some time now, of course you were none the wiser and I played it that way. It seems that that is another of the diseases that the emeralds have infected you with… you are too trusting of others hahaha"._

_Shadow closed his eyes and kept them that way for a good long while the human continued speaking. Throughout that time, Shadow's mind was a buzz with activity, questions entered his chain of thought before quickly disappearing and being replaced by another then another. But all this time the answers continually eluded him. Could this mean that he was meant to have been a force for good since he entered into this shitty world? Why had the answers not come to him sooner? Why had he taken the lives of others instead of defending them?. When he seemed to have found the answer to one, it instantly conflicted with another thus causing him to go back to square one again. And so it remained for what seemed like hours, even though only a few minutes had passed. _

_However, Shadow's chain of conflicting thoughts was rudely interrupted when the machines that surrounded him bleeped and whirred into action._

"_It became clear to me many months ago Shadow, that you are too great a threat for me to allow you to exist for any longer than I deem necessary. In some pathetic part of my mentality I somewhat believed that you would ignore or indeed fight back against the emeralds power over you, BUT YOU FAILED ME, YOU DID NOT FIGHT BACK, YOU DIDN'T SEE THE WORLD AND THOSE WHO RESIDE IN IT IN THE WAY I DEMANDED OF YOU! And that my friend is truly despicable betrayal. But all is not lost, oh no, you shall yet serve one last purpose. When I have examined your inner working and discovered just how the chaos emeralds corrupted you, then my newest creations shall benefit greatly and shall serve me without even a single thought of emotion crossing their mind for ever more". The scientist had longed for this day to come, now he could finally put his mind at ease that all threats to him would soon be expunged… or would they._

"_I Doctor Gerald Robotnik, this measly planet's greatest genius of the scientific arts will soon cast down those who would seek to betray and destroy my life's work, and I will raise up a new being of perfection who will remain my most loyal and obedient experiment. That will be truly a magnificent sight to behold, shame you will not live to see it, oh well. COMMNSE THE SURGICAL PROCEDURE AT ONCE! _

_Shadow's eyes flared open with rage, he had never felt this much anger before in his life but he remained unafraid. He had silently vowed to free himself from his life of bondage and be free, he had vowed to become more powerful than he was currently capable of being, he vowed to care for nothing and no-one except himself… for all manner of life form kill, betray and feed upon other just to survive. He would not be a victim any more, he would take control of his own destiny. The chaos emeralds had shown him the path and now he would skate across it and never look back, the life of the lone wolf, the survivor, and the title of the ultimate symbol of power and life beckoned him… and he would heed its call._

_The black hedgehog once again began to tug at his restraints but now with a newfound fervour and lust for freedom. His muscles bulged and crackles with untamed chaos energy, electricity poured into his body but this time he didn't care about the pain he felt. His desire to live a life of his own making was stronger than any pain that that traitorous dog of a human could deal to him. Shadow could feel the restraints buckle under the pressure but it was not enough, he screamed in agony as the pain became ever more unbearable but he remained resolute. At that moment, just as he could almost feel the restraints giving way, the surgical blades were upon him. The knives and saws cut through his fur and flesh like a knife through melted butter thus causing the blood to flow endlessly, muscle tissue was extracted from all manner of areas of his body…_

(**End of flashback**)

At that moment Shadow the hedgehog instantly sat upright and screamed at the ceiling, small tears protruded from his eyes as he felt, only for a slight moment, that he could feel the surgical instruments from many years ago cleave through his flesh like paper as if it had only happened just moments ago. Everyone around him just stood silently for a few moments as they registered Shadow's sudden outburst in their psyche. Sonic and Knuckles were shocked to say the least, as the stood there looking at their black and red comrade with raised eyebrows , Rouge rushed to his side. Kneeling next to him she cupped his face within her delicate gloved hands and looked into his crimson orbs. The batgirl was worried for him, she had always held deep respect for the hedgehog and he too had respect for her… although the way he often acted around her would indicate otherwise.

For what seemed like hours the pair sat next to each other staring into each others eyes, but unbeknownst to Rouge, Shadow could not see her. He could only see the images of pain and cruelty from years past being meted out to him again, the past it seems, refuses to die quietly.

………………………………………………………….

**There you go my friends, sorry once again it took so long but I have another treat for you all. DOUBLE CHAPPIE MADNESS COMING UP LATER. CHOW**


	11. The Dark Truth Laid Bare

Ok yeah I'm still alive and I wanna apologise for not updating this fic sooner

**Bet you never thought two chapters would come along in one day huh, its like waiting for a bus. You wait a hell of a long time for a bus to come along then suddenly 2 come all at once (except this is with fanfic chapters but you get the idea). Anyway, on with chapter 11 and I'll request your help at the end. But for now READ ON AND ENJOY!**

**Chapter 11: The Dark Truth Laid Bare**

"I'm glad that you have decided to join us Shadow", remarked Eggman, "It certainly took you long enough, I guess Seth really did prove his worth… and how weak you really are after all. It's such a shame that my Grandfather never got to finish what he started with regards to your demise, but in a strange way, I'm quite please that he failed. For if he had succeeded then none of my children would stand before you this day. I truly am grateful Shadow the hedgehog" commented the rotund mad man as he gingerly stroked his drooping moustache.

"What are you talking about Eggman?" shouted Tails.

"It's quite simple really fox-boy" came the reply.

"You see my friends; over fifty years ago Shadow was the first biological organism that my grandfather had created. Many long days and nights' research had resulted in nothing but failure and frustration, but then low and behold the answer was finally discovered. The chaos emeralds. My grandfather knew of the power that these jewels had within them but what he did not yet know was how to use them for his own means, nor how to successfully extract the power from them. The jewels hold power the likes of which no-one, not even I or you Tails, can fully explain, but that did not stop Gerald Robotnik".

At this moment everyone, including the dark twins and except for Shadow, stared at Eggman in confusion. They had never heard of this human before in their lives but it mattered little to them, Shadow on the other hand winced in unseen pain at the name of his creator once again brought back bitter memories.

"Get on with it Eggman, explain who the fuck these poor excuses for twins are?", bellowed Knuckles who began to clench his fists in anger and leer at his doppelganger.

"Calm down knucklehead", muttered the doctor, "As I was saying, my Grandfather continued his research for many day and nights until finally he discovered a way to retrieve their power".

"How?", asked Tails, who was becoming incredibly excited about the prospect of finding out more information about the mysterious chaos emeralds.

"Sadly Gerald Robotnik could not retrieve the power directly from the emeralds himself, he needed a 'middle man' you might say. Someone or something that could directly absorb the chaos energy from the emerald and use it for whatever my Grandfather had intended it for, Shadow the Hedgehog was that 'middle man'.

Everyone once again turned to stare at Shadow, even the doppelgangers were becoming quite inquisitive as regards to the history of this black and red warrior.

"Shadow was born as the result of my Grandfathers' genius and of the chaos energy from the emeralds being put into his body, it is because of that energy that the hedgehog is alive today. It is also the reason that you escaped from this very laboratory all these years ago, aren't I right Shadow?", remarked the doctor as a hint of mocking laughter was emitted from his mouth.

The ebony hedgehog didn't make a sound, he just continued to stare into Rouge's eyes as tears began to fill his own. Amy too began to feel some form of pity for the hedgehog, she had never really taken to him but she had shown him a modicum of respect when their paths had cross from time to time. She had somewhat believed, probably naively so some had told her, that Shadow was not so straightforward a character as many had judged him to be. And she knew in her heart that that as grossly unfair. Amy, despite her childish antics, had sometimes taken it upon herself to try and reach out to Shadow and offer him her friendship. But he had rejected it. Try as she might Shadow would not open up to her nor would he decide to give his lonely existence and become one of her many friends, but she refused to give up on him he just needed time… or so she told herself. Rushing to his side, the pink hedgehog knelt beside him, opposite Rouge, and wrapped her arms around his neck determined to prove to him that he was not alone any more and that he never truly was no matter what he felt. There she sat, her pink quills brushing against his cheek and small crystal-like tears trickling down her naked cheek and onto his whit furry chest, but Shadow was oblivious to it all. Even though he was looking directly at Rouge he could not see her… only the pain and torture from the visions of memories long ago that simply refused to die.

"It seems that Shadow is becoming quite the catch, two luscious ladies at his side to calm him in his time of need. It fills my heart with such disgust it is almost unbearable", the scientist remarked.

"Anyway as I was saying, the energies emitted from the chaos emeralds are strange indeed. My grandfather discovered that they have the power to corrupt or enhance those whom they give their power too; my grandfather took all the necessary precautions in making sure that Shadow would not become so corrupted with power that he would destroy all that my grandfather had sought to create. So he made sure that Shadow would heed his will no matter what, but it seems that the emeralds had other ideas. It is said that they have a will of their own and decide for themselves who justly deserves to wield their power, whether it is for good or evil is their choice and their choice alone".

"The emeralds have a will of their own", asked Knuckles, who was increasingly becoming more and more confused with every word the doctor spoke.

"That is correct Knuckles, sadly my grandfather never figured out that little flaw in his plans until it was too late. Shadow was created for the purposes of evil and committing evil but the emeralds had other plans for him, they altered his psyche, they made him _feel_ things. Emotions are what I have tried my best to avoid in my work, for they can not only be a source of great strength as you have all proved in your past dealings with me, but they can also be a source for great weakness… and that is something which I cannot abide".

"If it is a weakness, as you say, then how come we have always kicked your ass?" asked Sonic in a rather cocky manner.

"Arrogance is a weakness, and you are full of it hedgehog", replied Eggman.

"So is evil and hate, for there are emotions stronger than hate"

"Let me guess, this idea of love and friendship conquering all. It is pathetic", scoffed Eggman.

"Now who's the one being arrogant", piped up Tails.

"They are all weaknesses that will be expunged from the very surface of this world my friends. And my children will wash away all opposition that dares resist, starting with you. Which brings me back to your original question. When my grandfather learned of Shadow's betrayal he sought to have him destroyed but not before he could learn all he could about how the emeralds' power had corrupted him, shadow managed to escape but not before samples of blood and tissue had been extracted from his very body. It took many long weeks of experimentation but the questions were finally answered, my grandfather's research indicates that within the soul of each and every living being there exists a side that is the opposite of their true nature. You are, by nature, kind and caring individuals, urh it makes me sick just speaking those words, but as a result of that you are cursed to have a hidden dark side.

"Talk fucking sense Egghead, we want real answers and NOW!" barked Knuckles who was becoming increasingly frustrated.

"Your impatience annoys me greatly knuckles, but fine I shall make this as simple as I can so that someone with such a poor excuse for a brain can understand. Okay?". Knuckles bared his teeth and uttered a low growl at the insult his enemy had dealt him.

"You have all felt anger, such uncontrollable anger, in the past my friends I do believe. You can feel the heat and the burning desire to destroy your foes rise up inside you like a volcano about to erupt, and just like a volcano when it does erupt, your hidden darkness is made manifest. Tails knows what I mean don't you my little foxy friend?".

Sonic, and practically everyone else in the room apart from Shadow, stared at the little kitsune with mixed expressions of confusion and shock upon their faces. Tails, for his part, did nothing except stare at the shiny metal floor in an attempt to hide the fact that he knew perfectly well what Eggman was talking about. It was the time when he fought against the HUNTER that had hurt his brother and best friend, he remembered feeling the strong muscular fingers of the beast wrap themselves tightly around his little neck and begin to squeeze the life out of him. He remembered how something made him look over towards the unconscious form of his brother and then… he remembered the darkness take hold of him. It was a feeling or unrivalled anger and raw power the likes of which he had never felt before in his life but it had no doubt saved his life, albeit had bought him enough time for Shadow to regain his strength so that _he_ could destroy the monster. As the memeories of those dark few minutes in Tails' life rushed back into his mind, he swore for a single moment that he could see he dark self stare back at him up from the shiny surface of the floor. Those blood red eyes and that black fur that pulsated with evil energy was enough to scare the living daylights out of the boy causing him to collapse backwards onto the hard surface of the ground.

Sonic rushed to his side and helped the young cub to stand. Placing his gloved hands onto the boy's shoulder and kneeling down so their eyes could meet, Sonic stared long and hard into his little brother cyan orbs as if trying desperately to not just comfort him… but to understand what had frightened him so much. After a few minutes of constant staring at each other, the blue blur pulled his brother into a tight embrace. Wrapping his arms around the lad, he could feel the tremors of fear course up and down the kit's body. There it was again, that sense of helplessness, that feeling that he knew that his best friend was in trouble and even though he was right in front of him, he still could do nothing to help him. Only hug him, whisper into his ear that everything would be okay and hope that that would be enough to calm him. Crystal-like tears poured from his eyes down onto the boy's soft orange fur and Sonic cursed himself in his mind that he had once again failed to help his little brother when he most needed him… but this time was to be an exception. After a few minutes of holding one another in a deep embrace, Tails stopped shaking. His fur once again became soft rather than hard and rough as it had been before Sonic held him. Realising his grip from around the young cub, Sonic looked into his friend's innocent eyes and smiled. That was the icing on the cake as far as Tails was concerned, that smile of perfection, kindness and sheer good will, brought warmth to his heart and he too smiled a smile of pure perfection and innocence. With a quick ruffle of the lad's hair, which did not amuse him on little bit, Sonic returned his attention back to Eggman.

"And you said emotions were a weakness". He said whilst grinning.

Eggman said nothing for a few moments and then carried on with his previous topic of conversation, fully ignoring Sonics' comment thus giving the blue hero the satisfaction at knowing that he had actually managed to beat the mad doctor at his own twisted game. Such a victory would doubtless be forgotten any time soon.

"As I said before, the darkness exists within each of us and so it must be for all time. For without good there can be no evil and without evil there can be no good, such is the nature of the universe. My grandfather eventually discovered a way to force this dark side of an individual to the surface and turn it into a physical entity, his first subjects perished only a matter of hours after they had been created but eventually some were successful. They were what I call 'The Firstborn' although you know them as the HUNTERS. These beasts were created many years ago from shadow's own DNA but were sadly lacking in the ability to use the powers of the chaos emeralds. Strange isn't it, the chaos emeralds gave those faceless monstrosities life, yet they did not imbue them with power. I guess their 'will' decided otherwise".

"I guess even the chaos emeralds fight against you, Eggman", remarked Knuckles.

"It matters not, the beasts had served the purpose by bringing that little pink pest to me, and thus brought you to me too hahahaha. And I must thank shadow for bringing a chaos emerald with him to my fortress, I most truly am grateful and so are all my children too. You see I needed a chaos emerald to bring life to my creations, each of your DNA had allowed their bodies and their minds to be created but in order to give them life a chaos emerald was needed".

"So then why did we fight the HUNTERS then Eggman?", asked Jet.

"They were merely a test for you, to prove yourselves worthy of taking part in my third and final challenge. Plus, they also served as a means to collect your battle data; you see each of the faceless humanoids had micro-processing sensors dotted about their entire bodies. Each time you laid a punch or a kick against them, or indeed used a special battle technique against them, the data would be collected in the head and then digitally fed through to each of the cryo-tubes that held each dark twin. It all gets quite technical from here on my friends but lets just say that that is the reason why the faces had to be sacrificed. Anyway I must say that you all performed spectacularly well, better than I expected one might say, each of your doppelgangers has really benefited from your battle prowess… or even gone one stage further".

"I'm glad that we measured up then, doctor", remarked Sahdow, who had pulled himself away from the females and marched towards the fat human's position. Seth and a few of the others begin to slowly walk towards him, but the doctor bade them halt immediately.

"So, it speaks after all", commented Seth, "I'm surprised that your vocal chords are still functioning, especially after the beating I gave you" he said as a smug grin slowly formed across his face.

Shadow ignored his dark brothers' snide remark and continued to stare up towards the mad scientist, "Where is the chaos emerald you took from me?", he asked somewhat politely.

Eggman rested his wrinkled hands over the balcony and leaned over the side to better see the creature that stood before him, "It is in my safe keeping my friend, and there it will stay till I have no further use for it".

"You'll dispose of it when it serves no further use to you, times haven't changed much doctor. You and your grandfather are more alike than I previously believed, and just as cruel. You torture those who serve you, and then you dispose of them when they are of no further use".

"My, my shadow, Seth must've beaten some sense into you. I guess your loss to him in battle wasn't all in vain after all", came the doctor's reply. Shadow said nothing; he merely gritted his teeth in frustration.

"The chaos emerald has served its uses… for now at least. The HUNTERS bought me enough time to imbue them all with the powers of chaos, I was quite surprised that one emerald contained enough power to accomplish such a task. But then again these magnificent gems are full of surprises as you are well aware".

"They have the same chaos powers as I have?". Asked Shadow.

"Oh no my friend… they surpass your pathetic powers many times over. I have merely held them back for now, hence the electronic dog collars around their necks. I wouldn't want my children to go out of control and bring disaster to my finest moment. And besides, if I didn't have them on a short leash then you'd have all perished when they were first introduced to you all. But fear not my friends, when you get to battle them… well… lets just say… all bets are off, no holds barred if you get my drift". Shadow said nothing, he just merely walked back towards the rest of the team, wilfully ignoring the insulting jibes that Seth threw his way.

"THEN LET US FIGHT NOW!" roared Knuckles who had just about grown tired of waiting to challenge Rijak to another slugging match.

"Patience my dear knucklehead, patience. Your time to battle for your life will come when it will come, for now I hope that you'll find me most… _accommodating_", he said with a cruel and calculating smile.

At that precise instant, three metallic rings fell from the ceiling around the group of heroes, they hurtled towards the ground but when the first ring was no more than a few feet off the ground it halted in mid air, the second one doing the same just a matter of feet above the first and the third above the second until they became completely trapt. There were no markings upon the rings, they merely appeared to be normal steel alloys bent into the shape of a circle. Before anyone could utter a word a bright white light reigned down upon them from above, Amy and Wave dropped to the floor in fear but it made no difference. The white light quickly consumed them all until there remained no sign of their existence left within the laboratory, Eggman merely cackled at the ease with which he had captured them all within one fell swoop. But now the final part of his grand scheme would come into play. Turning towards the dark doppelgangers, he spoke roughly and with great authority to them all.

"This is the final part in a stage act which has gone on for far too long, you will get you turn to destroy the pathetic wastes of flesh when your time comes. Of that I promise you". Each doppelganger either began to quietly laugh to themselves, or to crack their knuckles as they began to eagerly await the coming slaughter.

"Kyros, Riana, Hektor!", barked Eggman.

"Yes my master" they said together.

"You three shall be the first to fight, consider it an honour if you so wish. Seek out and destroy the Babylon Rogues deep within the playground I have created for you. Reveal the powers that the chaos emerald has bestowed upon you, and use it to annihilate them. MAKE THEM SUFFER! But above all else… DO NOT FAIL ME!".

"WE SHALL NOT FAIL, MASTER!" they shouted together.

"Excellent".

Within a second, the teleportation device that had stolen away the Sonic Team, fell from the ceiling, surrounded the dark twins and made them vanish from sight. Eggman was left alone with the gloomy lab with his thoughts, he knew that the dark twins were the greatest creations that his genius could create but even in this, his finest hour, some nagging thought of doubt crept within his mind. Resting against the steel railing of the balcony his gingerly fingered his drooping moustache, as if trying to console himself that his ultimate victory was near at hand.

"Let the fun begin", he muttered quietly to himself before steadily walking away from the balcony and into the darkness.

…………………………………………………………

**Well there ya go, told ya I'd have another chappie up and ready for ya. Oh yeah, I now require your help. The great author **Dark Side of the World **has come up with the idea of putting songs in with his fight scenes. I now wish to do the same, cause I feel that it heightens the dramatic experience for the reader and helps them imagine the battles taking place. And they will be good, trust me. I want songs that will really make your heart race, really adrenaline pumping songs, songs that will make you feel every punch, every kick that is made or taken etc etc. these are gonna be pretty long battles so I require at least 2 songs for each battle. I've chosen 2 already for shadow but please by all means still give me song titles and the band names for his fight aswell. I've found a good one for Tails but I require another.**

**Next chapter will be an all out group battle, blood will be spilled and bones are gonna get broken. And 1 of the good guys will die. Sad I know but you cant have a fic that is completely biased towards the good side. Chow everyone and my apologies again for making you wait so long.**


	12. The Calm Before the Storm

**Hey there all my faithful readers and reviewers, and a hello to those who have yet to read my work. My deepest apologies yet to you all for making you wait this ridiculously long time for my updates. A lot of things have been going on some not so good, you know the usual thing. Anyways I hope you enjoy and once again i'm sorry for making you all wait for so long.**

**Chapter 12: The Calm Before the Storm**

As the sonic team began to awaken one by one they were met only by darkness invading their eyes. The young kitsune was the first to stir, terrible images had haunted is short slumber and he awoke letting out a loud shriek of fear only to see darkness in front of him. He tried his utmost to focus on one area of his unknown surrounding as give his eyes time to adjust to the darkness. For a moment he thought he was alone, until he heard the slow rhythmic sound of breathing. The sound of someone in a deep slumber. Tails tried his best to feel his way round, his eyes had yet to adjusted to the annoying lack of light and so he did all that he could do…touch everything his hands came upon and hope that whoever it was would be a friend of his. The surface of the floor underneath him felt cold, not damp nor rough, just cold and flat. His gloved hands began to reach out as far as they could in all direction, Tails dared not stand up incase he feel into or onto something or someone that would cause him harm, so he decided to crawl. The breathing he could hear began to multiply, it seemed obvious to him now that there were more people in this room that he had previously thought.

"Sonic?…Sonic?...where are you?" he whispered determined not to awaken a possible foe. He spent what to him seemed like hours upon that cold floor, scurrying around in vain like a mouse forced against its will to traverse the endless narrow corridors of a maze in a science lab. Soon he came to what he thought was the end of the room, rough, cold stone met his touch as he slowly rose off the ground and caressed the wall. "This must be the end of the room" he said to himself, "Now to find the others". Slowly, and keeping parallel to the wall, Tails crept forward. It was only a few minutes before he came face to face with another part of the room, literally face to face. Suddenly the young boy's nose smacked into something and he fell back onto his twin namesakes, rubbing his nose firmly to ease away the stinging sensation he felt Tails stood up cautiously and placed his hands upon whatever it was that he had walked into. It felt smooth, very smooth, in fact had he not smacked into it head on he would have no doubt thought that there was nothing there at all. Clenching his fist into a tight ball he smacked it hard against the object, a light-hearted 'ping' noise rang out…glass, he had walked straight into a wall of glass. Tails was confused as to just where the hell he was, but he did not take the time to ponder it any longer…he had to find his friends. "Sonic?", he said a little louder, "Sonic where the fu…oooff" his sentence was cut off as he felt first his foot catch on something then his whole body fall forward onto whatever it was. It was soft a furry, but quite a weight too. Tails cautiously rolled off the unknown object and began to touch it. He had no idea what to expect, but surmised to say he was quite nervous at that moment, however his fears quickly dissipated when he felt long locks of fur and a pointy fleshy snout.

"Knuckles?....is that you?" he said cautiously, almost turning it into a whisper. The creature just grunted in reply until a few seconds later when a small groggy voice was heard.

"Tai…Tails?...is that you?" came the voice.

"Yes it's me Knux, are you okay?" asked Tails is a concerned manner.

"I'm doing good kid. Man, my head feels weird. What the fuck happened?" he asked as he flung out his arms to stretch, narrowly missing Tails in the process.

"We got transported here by Eggman, I only woke up about…well…I cant see my watch" he replied whilst letting out a small bout of hushed laughter at his embarrassment.

"Where are the others?" asked Knuckles.

"They must be around here somewhere, I can hear breathing…and a some light snoring so Sonic is definitely in here". Tails replied.

"But knuckles be careful this place is weird…there's like a wall made completely out of gla…AHHH!" he screamed as the room suddenly burst into light. Knuckles too let out a muffled roar as the bright light made their eyes flow with tears as well as aching with the feeling of pain. Both of them fell to their knees and buried their faces in their hands in a desperate attempt to stop the light from getting in. Knuckles was the first to recover since he had been exposed to the darkness for only a small amount of time, he put his arms around the young kit and held him close. Just until his eyes adjusted and the pain went away. As he looked around, the red furred echidna could see the others lying in a variety of makeshift poses spread across the room. Shadow lay against the far wall of the room, his arms hanging limp at his side. Rouge lay on her stomach with her wings spread out on both sides and her left arm supporting her head as a makeshift pillow. The Rogues were lying dotted about the four corners of the room completely out for the count. Sonic and Amy were the most entertaining to look upon however, the blue hero lay spread-eagled in the middle of the floor with Amy snoozing soundly cuddled up next to him. Knuckles just felt a sly smile creep across his face…he now had enough ammunition to relentlessly torment his friend for many years to come.

Within minutes of the lights coming on, some of the remaining comrades began to arouse from their deep slumber. Shadow moaned and cursed to himself as he rubbed his head, Rouge let out a low yawn and grunted to herself as she rolled onto her back and looked up into the lights that dotted the ceiling. As Amy and Sonic slowly began to stir, the pain that Tails had felt in his eyes had now ebbed away to nothing. Thanking his echidna friend the young boy rushed to his brother's side.

"Sonic…come on Sonic this is no time to be sleeping, we are in serious trouble here."

The blue hedgehog slowly opened one eye and then the other, greeted by the familiar and warm furry face of his little brother looking down upon him the Mobian simply smiled. But he had not yet realised just who was taking a cat nap next to him, "Hey kiddo, man…my head is in a spin."

"Side affects of the doctor's transportation device it seems, now are you gonna get up or don't you want to disturb your sweetheart" he said with typical childish humour, the type that his big brother had often encountered when something embarrassing had occurred or was occurring.

Sonic looked down at his right hand side to see the young pink hedgehog cuddled up warm and snug next to him, it did look pretty sweet and even the blue blur himself had to admit that she did look pretty cute in her current pose. Of course he only told that to himself, there was not a chance in hell that he was going to give that echidna the satisfaction of getting one over on him. Slowly and silently moving away from Amy, so as not to disturb her, Sonic pushed himself from the floor and surveyed the interior of their prison. It was modest in the extreme, no doors or windows and the only light being emitted was from those attached to the ceiling…and they looked like they'd give out any minute. The floor seemed to be comprised of smooth marble tiles but upon closer inspection by Tails they turned out to be made of mere stone. Eggman obviously was not one to ensure his prisoners had access to decent accommodation. The cold and merciless stone walls stretched across three sides whilst the one made of glass puzzled all who looked upon it.

"Well this sucks" commented the ivory batgirl, who had now decided that staring at the lights for the past few minutes had failed to wear out her frustration. "No way in…".

"And no way for us to get out" replied Shadow who had himself suddenly, and unbeknownst to the rest of the group, woken up from his unconscious state. "At least, no visible exit points at least".

"How very observant of you Shads" remarked the batgirl, "I'd of though someone with your obvious sense of 'superiority' over us "weaker species" had by now figured out a way to set us free."

Shadow scoffed at her insult, but deep down inside his mind he realised that he deserved every single strike her words had dealt him. The past few hours had given him time to understand his actions, their consequences and most profoundly of all… his sense of purpose. His pride had taken a powerful beating and although it still remained strong within him it had been damaged, surprisingly he looked upon such a thing as a good occurrence. Fingering the golden bracelets upon his wrists he half closed his eyes and let out a low sigh, for whatever had been going through his mind what was important now was how to free himself. No, to free himself…and everyone else. "_If only I had my chaos emerald, but if there was a way for us to get in here then there is a way to get out_" he commented silently to himself.

Tails had been pondering the situation carefully, his mind was abuzz with possibilities but all ended with failure…until the answer struck him, "I'VE GOT IT!" he shouted with tremendous excitement. Those who had awoken gathered close to him in order to hear what he had come up with, "Its all so simple," he exclaimed, "why didn't I think of it from the start?" The others pondered in confusion as to what he was getting at, "Don't you get it? It's the lights. Look we are probably miles under ground right? With no obvious doors or windows right? Well then how the hell did Eggman get lighting…and air, down here into this apparently "sealed" prison? If he could get down here to do that then there's a high chance that we could get back out." And with that he took to the air, his twin appendages spinning wildly with both frustration at not seeing the most obvious answer right before him, and excitement at finally realizing it. Racing towards one of the lights he curled his gloved hand into a fist and thrust it against the glass. The light flickered and buzzed as it shorted out from the impact and fell to the ground smashing into tiny fragments, the wires remained attached to their point of entry into the room…but this is what he had expected. The tile that the light had been connected to began to come loose in his hands and from the small crevices he made, fresh cool air had begun to flow into the room.

"_I thought so…there was no way we could have survived this long if there was no way for air to reach us. This hole looks small but if I'm careful maybe I can climb up and see where it leads._" He pondered to himself, the sense of relief at finding an apparent exit almost overwhelming him.

"You found something bro?"

"I'm not sure Sonic, possibly… but only I have any chance of fitting through this small shaft, and I'll need to see where it leads."

"Take care Tails, I trust you know what you're doing?"

"Don't I always" smiled the kitsune as he began to clamber up the small shaft. Soon half of him was gone leaving only two fluffy tails remaining, but soon they had disappeared as well.

"_Good luck kid_" thought Knuckles to himself, he had faith in the boy but that did not ease the concern he had for his safety.

The small group watched as the cub clambered up into the darkness, only his fading huffs and pants giving any clue as to the progress he was making. But unbeknown to all…they were not alone.

"What the fuck is this shit?" asked an angry batgirl to whoever could be bothered to listen to her complaining.

"Shut it bitch, we are growing sick and tired of your whining" growled a frustrated silver hedgehog in response. Seth had not uttered a word before that moment, indeed he had simply remained glued to one lonely corner of the room. His eyes seemed to bore straight through the metal work into the very core of the planet itself, yet his eyes did not register any images. Deep within the warped confines of his psyche death and carnage toyed with the image of his foe…Shadow. A malicious toothy grin formed across his burnt jaw, a few drops of saliva fell from his lips and hit the smooth surface of the floor and scattered in all directions. No-one dared to look in his direction nor uttered a sound to him, yet within their minds they giggled with glee that he had suffered a painful retaliation from his quarry.

Veronica merely uttered a low menacing chuckle as she swaggered over towards the silver loner. Her pristine wings were tucked neatly one underneath the other and gracefully caressed her back as she moved forwards, her long shapely legs caught they eyes of most in the room yet none, save Cain, uttered a sound. The feral boy began scuttling across the room on all fours as his eyes slowly traveled up from the batgirl's heels to her rear end, the beast he was had almost fully given into his instincts and as such merely looking at a member of the opposite sex began to fill his already twisted mind with such perverse and disgusting images. If it wasn't for his loud panting, brought on by his cravings, Cain might well have avoided being noticed…unfortunately that was not the case.

"Looks like someone has an admirer" retorted a hulking albatross in a low gruff tone, followed by a smile indicating he was amused by the display.

Cain began to crawl forwards on all fours towards Veronica, his twin tails violently smacking the floor with each step he took. The others either did not bother to look or soon became engrossed in the little show of lustful affection the boy had for the much older female. They began to giggle menacingly to themselves for they all knew just how it would turn out. As the boy neared his pray his hormones went into overdrive, he could feel the desire to mate with her almost overshadow all rational thought. But then again, he was created completely devoid of any essence of rationality. The softness of her skin he yearned to touch, the sweetness of her scent proved to be intoxicating and the way she moved was so graceful that Cain began to growl with devious intent. He could not stand it any more. Pushing himself off the ground he lunged at his target, fangs and claws bared so that if she resisted then he would have her by force, it mattered not to him as long as he could mate with her.

Unfortunately such tactics never prove fruitful. As he flew through the air towards his prey the scent of the female's body grew more and more powerful, it was only a matter of seconds, mere moments in fact and she would soon be all his. Then he was brought back to the real world. Out of the corner of her eye Veronica noticed a small shadow dart across the floor and leap into the air behind her, smiling menacingly she spun round on her left heel and delivered a powerful blow to her pursuer. Cain shrieked and spluttered as the powerful, and beautifully formed, female limb collided with his chest and sent him flying back against the glass wall.

A sudden strange sound spread throughout the room. Those of the Sonic crew who had been alert enough to have heard it, began to look around ever square inch of the room for any indication as to where it was coming from. Failing that they cast puzzled and inquisitive looks upon one another in the hope of indentifying the source.

"Any idea what the hell that was?" retorted a confused echidna.

"Sounded like a thud against…glass. Not high pitched enough to have been created through contact with metal, but more like…flesh." replied Rouge. "I don't like this one bit, let me see." And with that she placed her right ear against the surface of the glass, being the creature of the night that she was her sensitive hearing had proved valuable in the past and now it was proving itself once again.

"What do you hear Rouge?" Knuckles asked inquisitively.

"Other than an annoying golf ball sized brain echidna disturbing my concentration I... wait…I can hear whimpering...like someone is in pain…now I can hear chuckling, there are other voices too both male and female but I can't quite make out what they're saying. But it's obvious that we are not the only ones being kept down here."

"Prisoners like us?" Sonic muttered to himself "Didn't know Eggman had invited others to this little get-together? Unless of course…" he trailed off with a sly smile

"Unless what?" Jet piped up.

"No prizes for guessing who our fellow prisoners are behind this oversized windshield."

"But…why would they be here?" Jet asked with a confused look smeared across his face.

"Isn't it obvious..." retorted Shadow from the far side of the room "…they are being kept here for two reasons. One, so that they don't cause the doctor any mischief and two, so that we have to fight. Like gladiators in the arena, one combatant from each team is led out to fight and to die for the ruling emperor. We are naught but a way of providing an entertaining demise for…"

"The emperor?" retorted Sonic before the ebony hedgehog could finish. Shadow grunted in annoyance that he had been so rudely interrupted by his blue furred nemesis, but he had to admit that the faker was right.

"I wonder when the all high an' mighty fat one will get this show on the road." muttered Sonic in a frustrating manner.

"Let him take his time hon…" replied Rouge "…you'd do well to remember that you didn't exactly come away from your last battle with your brother without taking a few hits. Besides he was merely being allowed to use a small amount of his power, when the real battle comes…all bets will be well and truly off". Grave concern uttered forth from her lips as she simply stared into the distance, looking at everything and yet nothing just merely thinking of what horrors were to come.

As Cain crawled away into the darkness like an abused and frightened puppy, his attacker made her final approach to the desired target. Sitting down next to the green and silver hedgehog she couldn't help but see a sneer of contempt appear upon his face, she merely smiled knowing that such a display obviously meant that she was getting under his skin.

"I see you have a good way of dealing with rodents." Seth grunted, he was not in the mood for small talk but seeing as how she had dealt so effectively with someone so weak, in his eyes, as the boy he could not help but like her methods. His silver and green quills brushed gently against the wall as he lay back against it, his legs were bent at the knee and he lazily rested his hands upon them as he leered at the floor. The bright light from above shone all around illuminating everything under its touch, but as Seth lowered his head the shadows around each and every crevice began to grow darker. Thus making him appear all the more sinister. Veronica slowly tilted her head to one side in order to better see his face, her large chest now came into full view as Seth became momentarily distracted. His eyes cut through the darkness like knives through paper and gazed upon her assets before turning away, almost disgusted by the fact that he had momentarily even considered giving into a basic natural instinct.

"Awh what's the matter hon? Don't like what you see?" she mocked upon noticing Seth's reluctance to look at her.

"What do you want?" he replied in a gruff tone, his frustration with the girl becoming ever more apparent.

"To understand you" came her reply in a manner so casual that it almost seemed to have been an insult to the hedgehog to not have realised that sooner.

"Bullshit…" his comment not even phasing her for a second, thus proving that she was not there to "understand him" as she had said "…you know as well as I do that that is not the reason you are here, you are here merely to pester me for your own amusement." He then slowly turned his head around out of the shadows so that it became parallel with hers; the seething rage was becoming more and more unstable with every second she remained at his side. It was only a matter of time before he blew, then she alone would have to deal with the consequences. "You have about five seconds to leave me alone or I will erase that pretty face of yours."

Veronica remained unphased, indeed she even dared to smirk a little knowing full well that she was pushing the hedgehog to the edge. Unfortunately for her though, she had underestimated the power of her prison companion. Perhaps she has been under the foolish belief that she could handle him if anything physically dangerous were to occur, perhaps she believed that by taking him on, and perhaps besting him, she would expose him for the weak and pathetic creature that he was hiding under the façade of an invincible warrior. But perhaps the simplest explanation, is that she merely delighted in seeing others suffering in a bout of vengeful anger. Only she knew the real reason, but whatever it may have been she was completely unprepared for what was to occur. Seth cold not contain the rage any longer, with lightening reflexes he swung his torso round and grabbed the stunned batgirl by the throat shrieking with untamed fury as he did so. Veronica tried desperately to free herself, she grabbed hold of the silver furred fiend's single wrist. As Seth pushed himself from the floor he held the struggling female aloft for all around to see, some merely chuckled menacingly amongst themselves whilst others didn't even bother to look at what was happening. Their lack of comradeship was plain to see. Struggling for air Veronica began to choke, as she tried to break his grip she began to kick at his chest but such efforts were fruitless. Her weak attacks had no more an effect upon Seth that smacking a feather against a stone wall in the hope that it could be knocked down. She squirmed and spluttered but Seth's grip was like iron and try as she might she could not free herself, but in a sudden instant she stopped squirming for a moment and focused upon the bright green glow that was being emitted from the silver hedgehog's free hand. Her eyes grew wide with fear as Seth brought his hand closer to her face, the heat from the chaos energy growing more and more intolerable.

"What's the matter little bitch? Not willing to speak anymore? Hahahaha!" growled the evil fiend. "Now let's put a smile back on that face of yours, it'll be painful and… permanent" he said in a slow gruff whisper as he leaned forward towards his caught prey. Veronica's eyes began to tear up, had she been able to speak she would doubtless have begged for him to release her. But it would have been to no avail. Seth cackled menacingly as he brought the swirling ball of chaos energy within mere inches of his target, it crackled and spat forth singeing sparks that burned into the female's naked flesh. Bringing his free arm back behind him the silver monster planned to snuff out the life of his prisoner with one almighty blow, he roared aloud as the hand came careering towards the terrified captive but soon halted in mid air for a strong brown furred paw began to tighten itself around Seth's wrist. The silver and green furred being was caught completely off guard by the newcomer's attempt to restrain him, he swirled his head around to look at the creature that had dared to intervene and came face to face with the hedgehog that had previously fought Sonic to a draw. Hatred and madness seethed within him as his leering stare bore into the face of his new adversary; he cared not for what reason the brown furred fool had done what he did, he had dared to intervene in a private dispute an act that Seth would punish with a painful demise.

Releasing his grip upon the still terrified batgirl, causing her to collapse to the ground like a rock, Seth brought his now free hand round to enact swift vengeance. He sneered with vile anger as he brought his attack closer to his foe, however his expression soon turned to one of shock for within a split second his enemy had maneuvered out of the way of his attack and delivered a thunderous punch to the back of his head. As Seth began to fall forwards, pain coursing through his entire body, his opponent maneuvered himself once again into position within the blink of an eye and delivered a gut wrenching knee blow to his gut. Seth's eyes grew wide with agony as blood was hurled forth from his still slavering jaws. He fell to the floor and lay there in pain as small trickles of blood seeped forth from his nostrils and from he corners of his mouth, the brown hedgehog who had bested him causally walked away with no more care in him than a man who had crushed an ant beneath his boot. Those who had bothered to watch remained silent at the spectacle that had unfolded, Seth had gone from a dominating maniac to an agony-ridden heap on the floor in less that four seconds.

"You guys hear that?" whispered Rouge, her ear had been pinned to the glass during the whole time the saga on the opposite side had played out.

"Sounds like a real party over there. Perhaps we should crash the party?" implied a frustrated echidna as he began to gear himself up for breaking down the glass.

"I would think twice before doing that my impatient friend, or perhaps that is beyond your capability." The very familiar voice of the one being whom they all despised above all others echoed throughout the small room, eyes were cast across the walls seeking out any possible source of the where the sound was coming from.

"If you really want to break down the only barrier that separates you and certain death then by all means go ahead, I will do nothing to stop you. But wouldn't you prefer to stand a higher chance of survival with what I have to offer…or will you go along with knuckles' approach?" the sound of sarcastic laughter spread throughout the room making all those who heard it cringe with disgust, they knew that Eggman had them over a barrel and that even if they did listen to him their chances of getting out of this were slim. But then again, what choice did they have.

"We are listening Eggy, what little course do we have to run through now for ya? Let me guess those who survive are set free and those who don't perish right?" Sonic piped up.

"My my it seems that you have more intelligence than I gave you credit for Sonic, but I should warn you that every challenge I have set you in our long years of fighting do not come close to what you will face this time."

"We have heard that before…many times before in fact Doc." Sonic replied.

"SILENCE! impertinent rodent." Eggman bellowed causing many of the sonic crew to be taken aback, "I give you the chance to fight one-on-one with your clones, a chance to redeem yourselves judging by your poor performance last time. This prison which you and your dark clones find yourselves in is but a "waiting room" if you like, the transportation device which brought you all here will take you one by one should I desire it to a specifically purpose built arena. Everything that you see, hear and touch will be very real, make no mistake I have not designed a mere hologram designed to toy with your mind NO! I have created something far grander. An arena designed to test your specific abilities…or to hinder them. Some of you shall find your environment most hospitable, others will find it most lethal I assure you. Its all part of the game my friends."

"Some twisted game, let me guess if our evil clone doesn't kill us then the environment will right?" commented Sonic.

"As I said rodent, this is by far the hardest challenge that you have ever had to face. You will find no respite nor safety in my grand arenas, I have restrained my children from killing you but once you step into the arena the collars will be removed and as they say…all bets are off." Nervousness grew thick as fog within the confined prison as each warrior in turn steadily began readying himself for what could possibly be his or her final battle. Some stood silent and still as statues, contemplating their future battles whilst others grew ever more frustrated. If they were to die, then they hoped to get it started quickly and to go down fighting. But there was one amongst them who showed no emotion, he had lived with death dogging him all of his existence, the life of the solitary warrior had sustained his unenviable existence and kept his wits sharp. He had trusted these wits to keep him going for many decades now and they had never failed to let him down, perhaps he sensed that he would survive come what may…or perhaps just perhaps he had given up caring about whether he lived or died.

As the others began to calm themselves and to prepare, Eggman spoke again. "The time for the first challengers is now, the Babylon Rogues will be the first to participate in my final challenge."

"Wait just a second here, I thought that this would be one-on-one?" Rouge asked clearly puzzled by the mad doctor's decision.

"Oh don't worry my dear, your time will come soon enough. For this first great challenge I favoured having the Rogues fight along side one another, it makes things even more…exciting don't you think. They have fought along side one another for many years, and I would so hate to break them apart now." The sarcasm in the villain's voice was plain for all to hear, they shook their heads and cursed under their breath at the madman's mocking tone. "The battle awaits you Rogues, prepare yourself." And with that his voice died away leaving nothing but silence to deafen all those it touched.

"What do you think Sonic?" Amy asked. She had remained quiet for the entire time they had spent within their prison, but the doctor's latest message to them all had made her incredibly fearful. She struggled to her feet and gripped her love's gloved hand tightly within her own as she nestled into his shoulder looking for any signs of comfort from him.

"I don't know Amy" he replied as he wrapped his arms around her and started off into the distance, failing to see anything but thinking many many things. "I'll bet you that even if we survive these battles, Eggman has no intention of letting us leave this place. But we do have an ace up our sleeve a little two-tailed ace at that."

"You're right Sonic, its strange how Eggman didn't seem to know that he was missing even though he knew that I was about to break the glass. He must be keeping an eye on us somehow." Knuckles piped up. He had dared to hope that the young boy would succeed and bring back good news, but the longer he took the quicker that hope had begun to fade away.

"You're right hun…" said Rouge as she cuddled up close to him as Amy had done to Sonic, "…Eggman must have some kind of surveillance cameras somewhere around this room, perhaps if luck is on our side he simply hasn't noticed that the kid is missing. But if he does…"

"If he does, then the boy's life is in great jeopardy." Came the voice of a certain ebony hedgehog as he rudely cut off the batgirl in mid-sentence. Shadow remained still where he sat, no hint of emotion crept across his face nor did he even turn to look at the others. He simply sat staring at the glass, the glass that barred him from taking action against the silver faker who had bested him. Vengeance burned in his heart, the desire to fight and to kill this abomination that had made him a mockery of his former glory. Living or dying meant nothing to him now, the lives of those around him meant nothing, or at least it seemed not to, he simply hungered for a chance to face his "brother" once again and this time he would not just emerge victorious…no this time he would make him beg for death. Sonic continued to watch the motionless black and red hedgehog for a few moments more, before he turned his attention to the small hole in the ceiling where Tails had entered and vanished from sight.

"_Take care little buddy, come back to us safe_" he muttered under his breath.

……………………………………………………………………………………

**Well here you go all, I'm so sorry that it's been such a long long time since I have updated this fic. At least its updated now, and more is to come. Chapter 13 will feature the first of many battles that will decide the fate of our heroes…but one will not survive the battle to come. I hope that you enjoy this chapter and I hope that those of you who have been my most loyal reviewers have not forgotten about this fic. I wouldn't blame you if you did lol. Anyways, THAT'S ALL FOR NOW! But more is to come soon. CHOW ALL! **


	13. Fox on the Run

**Chapter 13**** – Fox on the Run**

**Hello to all my readers and reviewers, I'm very sorry that it has taken me a ridiculously long time to update (almost 2 years I think). I'm afraid that as of late I had just lost the drive to do any writing and what writing I did do was poor. However I have received some wonderful messages from people still showing their support for this fic despite the stupid length of time it has taken me to write any updates. I wish to thank those people for their continued support and I hope that my future work does not disappoint. This is just a little taster to hopefully show I'm back in the game, next chapter will have bloodshed. Read on and enjoy and thankyou for your patience.**

….

The heat was growing almost intolerable but still he continued to climb, bracing himself against the narrow metal plates of the shaft he slowly forced himself up. Sweat began to trickle down his chest making his fur stick together but Tails knew that just one slip would send him plummeting the few hundred meters he'd climbed, the vent shaft was too narrow for him to use his twin tails to force himself up and would be just as useless to save him for a terrible fall. He was now beginning to feel exhausted, his muscles were strained and the pain kept on gnawing at him, but what choice did he have to go on, his friends were counting on him and it was for that reason that he would accept any pain no matter how great if it brought him one step closer to saving them. Eventually his determination paid off.

Smacking his fist in desperation up at the steel grating that barred his way it eventually came loose and was easy knocked aside. One sweat covered gloved hand appeared, quickly followed by the second, and then a small, tired boy pulled himself up from the darkness of the shaft and into the cool environment of a long gloomy corridor. Steam began to rise out of the shaft as hot and humid air collided with the refreshing cool breeze that now ran down the corridor from a location bathed in darkness. Tails seated himself against the hard and unforgiving metal-plated wall and let the cool breeze wash over him for a time, he would have loved to have closed his eyes and let his mind wonder off into dreams of far away places. Places where evil and cruelty had no home, where only friendship and kindness endured. But the tranquillity of his rest was disturbed by what sounded like a familiar voice calling to him, but if it came from his own mind or out of the darkness of the corridor Tails could not tell.

"_You cannot stop…must go on…must go…on. Friends need you…must go on_" The boy's eyes sprung open, they darted back and forth from one end of the corridor to another…nothing. Not a sign, sight or sound of movement. He was alone in the cold gloom. Forcing himself to his feet he placed his gloved hands on the back of his head and bit his lip, which way to turn? Which way to run? Left or right? Time was running out, a choice had to be made. "Please let there be something useful this way" he muttered to himself as he turned to his right and darted off down the tunnel, his small footsteps growing fainter and fainter as he slowly vanished into the gloom.

…..

"What the hell is taking the kid so damn long?" Jet muttered to himself.

"Quit your whining…" replied Amy, "Tails is doing his best or perhaps you've forgotten that this place is vast?"

Jet shot her a glare but then turned back, placed his hand on the glass barrier and rested his head against it. He gritted his teeth and slowly began to claw at the glass in frustration. "That useless brat aint gonna get us out of here, we might as well tear down this glass wall and go at them full force." He was now growing even angrier, trying desperately to chisel away at the glass with his talons before curling his fingers into a fist and beating them against the glass. Such displays of rash anger was beginning to annoy the other prisoners, Knuckles began to beat his own gloved fists together as if he was gearing himself up for the perfect moment to knock the green buzzard on his backside, Rouge began to stamp her foot and Shadow's nose began to twitch as the infernal racket began to pierce his ears. But it was Sonic who ended up knocking the green-feathered fool down a peg. Walking firmly up to bird, Sonic grabbed Jet by the shoulders, swung him around to face Sonic directly and pushed him against the glass wall. The hedgehog began breathing heavily, his nostrils were flared and his muscles tense, his top lip even began to curl at one end allowing his teeth to be exposed.

"Shut…your…damn…mouth", oh how Sonic wanted to bellow at the fool but he knew he had to keep his temper at bay or else it would only be a matter of time before they'd all be at each other's throats, "Tails has come through for us before when our backs have been up against the wall, and believe you me when I say that I trust him a hell of a lot more than I'd ever trust you."

Jet began to snarl, although he didn't care for Sonic and the others he did respect their previous accomplishments when the odds had been against them. But respect for the hedgehog was rapidly disappearing every minute that Tails was gone. It was at this point that Knuckles decided to step in. placing a friendly hand upon Sonic's right shoulder the hedgehog was momentarily distracted and this provided the opportunity Jet needed. Seizing his moment Jet lunged at Sonic, the hedgehog suddenly felt the weight of his assailant against his chest and forcing him down to the ground. Grabbing each other's arms the pair began to roll around the cold steel floor trading blows whenever they could, Jet's sharp talons clawed at Sonic's cheeks tearing the skin and making the flesh turn raw as small droplets of blood began to trickle down his face, and Sonic's gloved fist made contact with the green bird's jaw momentarily stunning him. The pause in the ongoing tussle bought just enough time for some of the others to intervene and prize the combatants away from each other before they beat seven bells out of one another. Knuckles wrapped his arms around Sonic's chest and lifted him off the ground and away from his enemy, whilst Amy, whose famous temper had now boiled over, grabbed the long green feather on the back of Jet's head and dragged him squealing in pain to the back wall on the opposite side of the room. Once she had let go Jet rubbed the back of his head furiously in an effort to dull the pain before lifting himself off the floor. Anger festered in his mind now, but if he had thought that Amy was finished with him then he was sorely mistaken. Before the green bird could even move a step forward Amy pushed him back firmly against the cold steel wall. The shock of the sudden display of strength from the girl was enough to snap Jet out of his furious mental state, now he simply stood propped up against the wall completely dumbfounded as Amy put a delicate but solid finger to his chest before venting her own fury at him. To those nearby it seemed so obvious what she would say, 'Don't you dare hurt my lovely Sonic' being at the top of her list, infact the only thing on her list as far as they were concerned. But she would now give them another reason, like she had done many times before, not to underestimate her.

"JUST WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE DOING!" she screeched. Jet's facial expression now went from one of confusion to one of nervousness. He was about to learn the hard way that once you get a talking-down from Amy you stay down.

Jet opened his beak in an attempt to speak but no sooner had he done so the bombardment began again. "I DON'T WANT TO HEAR IT!" the hedgehog's eyes were ablaze now, her teeth gritted in anger when she wasn't speaking and the flaring of her nostrils ever more noticeable. "IF YOU TWO WANT TO BEAT EACH OTHER TO DEATH THEN FINE GO AHEAD!", she momentarily shot an angry glare at Sonic, just to let him know that he wasn't completely off the hook, before turning back to her captive, "BUT THE REST OF US PLAN ON GETTING OUT OF HERE! IF YOU BOTH DIE WHAT GOOD WILL THAT DO!".

By now Jet was beginning to tremble and it seemed to everyone else that only Amy's finger was keeping him propped up against the wall. But by now her anger was beginning to wane, she pulled her finger away from the bird's chest, turned and gazed at everyone individually in the room. Everyone looked at her half expecting themselves to soon be on the receiving end of a tongue-lashing, everyone but Shadow that is who, if he had taken the time to look at her, would have seen that anger had disappeared from her face and instead there was now an expression of determination. Clenching her fists she marched to the centre of the room, that determination was burning in her heart and she knew what must be told to the others.

"Look, if we don't pull together and stay strong Eggman won't have to send those monsters after us because we will have destroyed ourselves. He'll be laughing at us if he isn't already, getting off on the fact that when the going got tough we didn't band together," there was a long sigh followed by a short pause as a single tear began to form in her left eye, "Instead we chose to let petty disagreements come between us. We chose to abandon all hope and become no different than the savages on the other side on this barrier…instead of the disciplined fighters you and I both know we are."

It was at this moment that a passionate fire had begun to burn within each of the trapped companions, as if a sudden realisation had occurred. A realisation that if they didn't stand together as one now, then they would die alone and abandoned in the dark. Sonic and Jet simply stared at the ground, their eyes closed for they seemed ashamed at the foolish antics they had committed.

"So I say," continued Amy, "That we cast away our differences and we stand together…together as one. Tails is our best hope at the moment but he is not our only hope. If we don't stand together then we will die alone, we pull our skills, our minds and our strengths together and we will get out of here…all of us." At that moment a roar of approval went up around the room, Rouge shot a seductive smile at knuckles who blushed in embarrassment, the Rogues made an agreement to stand shoulder to shoulder with the others and even Shadow cracked a small smile. However his smile was one of humour not of newfound hope or respect, for he had always looked down upon the blue wonder and now there it was, plain as day for all to see, all the bravado, cockiness, ignorance and foolhardiness that made Sonic who he was, now made to feel like an idiot by the very person whom many, up until that moment, had considered to be an idiot herself. The smile quickly faded however.

Sonic wiped the blood away from his cheeks and smiled approvingly at Amy, who blushed in return. Momentarily distracted by a hard slap on the back by Knuckles, he returned to look at Amy. Sonic had never doubted her capabilities even though at times she seemed completely oblivious to anything and everything else that was going on around her when he was in the picture, though he knew that when things got really rough she could swing that mallet of hers to cause some terrible damage like nobody's business. But he had to admit to himself that as of this moment he had seen a different side to her, it was no longer Amy the puppy love-sick child with a deluded imagination. Now standing before him was a girl proving she was very mature for her age, strong both in heart and body. No doubt he told himself that this moment wouldn't last long, that when they were free of this dreadful place she'd quickly return to chasing him like she always did. But for now he was happy to look upon her in a different and captivating light.

"_Good on you Ames_" he muttered quietly to himself.

However, it was at this moment in the midst of the celebrations that they suddenly ceased when a gut-wrenchingly familiar voice began to echo throughout the room. Although exactly where from could not be ascertained.

"My my, what a marvellous little speech. Hardly what I've come to expect from you after all these years my dear, though it just goes to show that you can all still surprise me from time to time." Muttered the raspy voice of the would-be dictator.

"Stick around long enough Eggy and we'll show you plenty more surprises." Replied Sonic in a traditional confident tone of voice.

"If you mean your little two-tailed friend then i'm afraid you will be disappointed."

Sonic's face suddenly turned to one of dread, he clenched his fists and began darting his eyes back and forth across the room trying to find the source of the voice, "You've captured him? Where is he? What have you done to him?" the hedgehog demanded.

Eggman took some small measure of sadistic pleasure from Sonic's distressed state, but he knew all to well that Tails was on the loose somewhere within his facility though he told himself it was only a matter of time before he caught up to the brat. "Oh come now Sonic did you really think I wouldn't notice an escaped prisoner running around my facility. Don't worry blue rodent, my forces are spread throughout the area. You can rest assured that they will track him down and return him to you…providing they haven't already killed him."

"You have always underestimated the boy, and you have done so at your own cost. For all your so-called genius you have failed over and over again. I guess there are some things that even you can't learn". Sonic's quick wit had now levelled the field.

"Mouth off all you want to hedgehog, your time will soon come but for now your companions are to be tested first. The Babylon Rogues will fight and should they survive then they shall go free…of that you have my word." For all the seriousness in his tone, no one was fooled by the doctor's rhetoric.

Jet and Wave begin to snigger to themselves, "Do you really think we are so stupid you disgusting glutton?", uttered Wave, "We will not play your games, we will soon be free once Tails discovers how."

"THE BRAT WILL SOON BE!..."

"Soon be what? Dead? I think not. If you were even close to capturing that little fur-ball you would have let us know, but its obvious that you cannot even find him. Even you, for all your gloating, cannot hide the obvious." The once booming voice was now silent as Wave made her point clear.

The silence remained for what seemed like an age, the anticipation of the mad scientist's next move was beginning to worry some of them. Just at that moment a noise was heard coming from the ceiling above them, four metallic panels fell to the ground, almost injuring Amy and Rouge in the process. The dust quickly faded exposing four dark voids in the ceiling, not a word was uttered, and everyone simply stared in confusion. Suddenly the sound of machinery whirring into action could be heard and from the darkness came the shine of four identical devices being lowered into the room, four silver coloured orbs on the ends of long poles with wires coiled around them leading back up into the gloom. The devices were out of reach of those upon the ground but they were close enough for everyone to see exactly what threat they would soon pose. As if upon command four small openings appeared at the base of each orbs, through which a small metallic nozzle protruded. Amy ran to Sonic's side and embraced him tightly, her eyes never leaving the threat above her. Rouge held Knuckle's gloved hand tightly as their eyes first gazed upon each other, and then to what was above them.

"Now that I have your undivided attention…listen very carefully. Above you are four little devices that are designed to deliver a highly toxic nerve agent into your surroundings…think of them as more _encouraging_ rather than threatening. Any disobedience on the part of any of you and the gas will be released, any attempt to escape and the gas will be released and any attempt to disarm the devices will instantly trigger the release of the gas. It will not be the most pleasant way to die, of that I assure you."

"Why not simply gas us now, go on kill us…you finally have us right where you have always wanted us. This is a golden opportunity you are wasting." Uttered Sonic. Amy simply leered at her idol with utter horror in her eyes, but it simply took a reassuring hand upon her own as they wrapped ever tighter around the blue hero's waist and Amy regained her nerve.

"That would be no fun hedgehog, I am going to enjoy watching you squeal… and squirm… and beg for mercy. But your time is not now Sonic, the Rogues are up first. You will all bare witness to the power that my creations will unleash, first upon you and then upon this world. You will be the last to fight Sonic, you shall watch as your friends are butchered one by one, and then you will know that everything you have fought for and struggled so hard to protect for all these years is dead and gone."

The mad doctor finished his mocking speech, leaving only a blood-curdling cackle to linger in the ears of all who heard it before slowly becoming quiet altogether. The silence of the room made everyone a little nervous even to speak, a silence that was soon shattered by the whirring of machines. An eerie blue light soon enveloped the room before anyone knew what was occurring, the lights in the ceiling began to flicker at speed. One even blew sending out a small, sharp flash of white light that forced those nearby to shield their eyes. The strange metallic rings that had brought the group to this underground prison had materialised within the room, their obvious purpose being to transport one or more of the group to a destination as yet unknown. As the Rogues braced themselves for the battle to come, on the other side of the glass divide the stress of waiting to shed blood was finally at an end for some.

"About damn time, if the master sees fit to call us up first that can only mean those weakling Rouges have been ordered to fight too." Muttered Kyros. "It will be an easy kill."

The dim blue glow the emitted from the machine was not powerful enough to light up the entire room, all the could be seen were a few grimacing faces that penetrated the shadows. The sickening panting of a feral beast in the corner and the gnashing of teeth, from those frustrated that they had not been called to fight first, was all that could be heard. Kyros and Riana made their way to the centre of the machine, folded their arms and waited for the device to do its work. the blue light that now surrounded the pair blacked out the surrounding environment, but they remained motionless despite the hideous cackling that emerged from the shadows. Suddenly a thunderous pair of clawed feet emerged from the darkness, the snake-like yellow eyes moving ever closer until the muscle bound hulk that was their companion had emerged completely. Pushing the others aside with causal ease, Hektor took his place.

…..

The alarm bells had now begun to sound, the lights along the corridor began to go dark one by one until all that illuminated the path before him were the red warning light attached to the side of the wall, but even they only offered limited vision of the path ahead. The orange furred fox now knew that time was short, if he didn't move quickly it was only a matter of time before the enemy found him. He leapt into the air and spun his two tails with as much effort as he could muster. It required much effort on his part but he was soon away and took off with great speed down the corridor, unaware however that his movements were being watched. The rotund madman scoffed as his leered at the monitor in front of him, he propped up his round spectacles further onto his jagged nose and lazily slumped back into his chair.

"_The boy's speed has increased somewhat over these past few years…most impressive"_ he muttered to himself, _"His battle will be most entertaining, but all in due time"_.

"All units and systems set weapons for stun, I want the brat apprehended alive…he of no use to me dead". His tone seemed somewhat casual, but the lethal sincerity of his words were not to be underestimated.

The red lights now went dead, leaving Tails alone in darkness. He dropped to the floor and pressed his gloved hands up against the cold metal of the walls, fear now began to creep back into his mind. He had no idea how much further he had to travel or what evils would come out of the gloom for him but he had no choice to keep moving. It was at that moment that a small bright spark appeared in the distance, see that it was coming at him at great speed the boy dived to the floor. The shot missed him by mere inches only to hit the ground and melt away into nothing.

"ALL STUN LAZERS LOCK ON TARGET! ALL UNITS APPREHEND THE PRISONER!"

Suddenly the corridor came alive with noise and electrical flashes darting back and forth, Tails had no choice but to run and escape the electrical bolts that were now coming at him from all direction. He jumped up and crawled along the ceiling, the shrieks hissed passed his body narrowly missing him by just a few millimetres. As he crawled along a little further more he screamed in pain as one of the bolts hit him in the legs and he fell to the ground, he could not tell if he was bleeding but the numbing pain that began to creep up his leg was more than enough to deal with. Momentarily disorientated he suddenly felt strong vibrations within the metal plating on the floor creep up his body, a loud humming noise of some monstrous machine was advancing towards him at speed. Tails jumped to his feet and although the pain in his leg still caused him great discomfort he knew he had to go on or be mown down by whatever was coming at him from the darkness, all the while numerous electrical bolts whizzed past his head from all directions.

Feeling his way along the wall he suddenly came across what felt like a door, he tried the handle but to no avail. The noise of the machine was growing ever louder with each moment that passed. Tails threw his shoulder at the door but it refused to budge. He tried again and again with no success, clawing at the fur on his head in a desperate panic he knew he had just one more chance to try. Tails pushed himself back against the far wall, then mustering all the strength he had he threw himself at the door one last time. But as he did so a bolt came out of the darkness and struck him in the left shoulder, pain racked the top half of his body as he crashed into the door. Tails feared the worst but his final push has just been enough to force the door open and he fell onto the cold metal tiles of the room floor. There was no time to waste, his instincts for survival kicked in and he booted the door closed. It slammed shut with a crash but Tails knew that he was not safe just yet, he forced himself to his feet and staggered to the control pad that was situated just to the right of the door. Pulling the plastic covering off and casting it to the side he reached out and ripped the wires from their sockets. The loud rumbling grew fiercer as it approached him, Tails closed his eyes but opened them quickly afterwards as he heard whatever monstrosity had been pursuing him pass him by. As the roar of the machine died away Tails slumped to the floor with his back up against the door and breathed a long sigh of relief, he was safe for now at least.

…..

**Hope you liked it, it may be smaller a chapter than the others but hopefully it'll show I havnt lost the knack for writing. But that all depends on what you think.**


	14. the end

Sorry all but I'm afraid this is it, I will not be doing any more updates or stories. I'm afraid I have lost the passion for writing and cant get it back. I wish to thank you all for your kind support over the years and I hope that you never loose the passion for writing.

Take care all


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